Home buyers got a sense of what the Federal Reserve has in store for the economy following Wednesday's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. Many pundits expected Fed Chair Janet Yellen to announce the first of an anticipated three hikes to its benchmark fed funds rate this year, and the central bank followed through with a quarter-point move. Further, some analysts have suggested the Fed is poised to start shrinking its whopping $4.5 trillion balance sheet in a way that will raise interest rates in the market by an additional amount.
Currently, the Fed reinvests the funds from maturing bonds in new Treasuries, which helps keep the debt market fairly stable and rates low. But if Yellen and her team opt to pare the Fed's debt load later in the year -- a plan that has been hinted at recently -- rates would almost certainly rise.
For those shopping for homes now, today's average mortgage rates across the U.S., are still attractive. We've also included last month's rates.
|
Mortgage Rates (National Average) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Today |
1 month ago |
|
|
30 year fixed jumbo |
4.72% |
4.24% |
|
30 year fixed |
4.19% |
3.99% |
|
15 year fixed |
3.33% |
3.15% |
|
30 year fixed refi |
4.20% |
4.01% |
|
15 year fixed refi |
3.41% |
3.20% |
|
5/1 ARM |
3.29% |
3.13% |
|
5/1 ARM refi |
3.39% |
3.24% |
|
Data source: Bloomberg. Rates may include points. |
||
For some perspective, here are a few of the national average mortgage rates from last year at this time.
|
Mortgage Rates (National Average) | |
|---|---|
|
March, 2016 |
|
|
30 year fixed |
3.69% |
|
15 year fixed |
2.97% |
|
1 year ARM |
2.90% |
|
Data source: Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). |
|
For current homeowners considering either a home equity line of credit (HELOC) or equity loan, today offers another bit of good news. HELOC rates are down again today, though equity loans remained unchanged at 5.16% and 5.22% respectively. However both equity loan rates are more attractive than last month's 5.28% and 5.26%.
