Mortgage rates inch higher, but home-buying demand is growing
By Aarthi Swaminathan
'Affordability remains a major headwind for buyers,' Freddie Mac says
Mortgage rates rose slightly in the latest week, but that didn't deter home buyers.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose and averaged 6.66% as of January 11, according to data released by Freddie Mac (FMCC) on Thursday.
It's up 4 basis points from the previous week - one basis point is equal to one-hundredth of one percentage point.
A year ago, the 30-year was averaging at 6.33%.
The average rate on the 15-year mortgage was 5.87%, down from 5.89% last week. The 15-year was at 5.52% a year ago.
Freddie Mac's weekly report on mortgage rates is based on thousands of applications received from lenders across the country that are submitted to Freddie Mac when a borrower applies for a mortgage.
Separate data by Mortgage News Daily said that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was averaging at 6.78% as of Thursday afternoon.
What Freddie Mac said: "Mortgage rates have not moved materially over the last three weeks and remain in the mid-six percent range, which has marginally increased homebuyer demand," Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie Mac, said in a statement.
"Even this slight uptick in demand, combined with inventory that remains tight, continues to cause prices to rise faster than incomes, meaning affordability remains a major headwind for buyers," he added.
What are they saying? "With rates expected to remain below 7 percent for the foreseeable future, [the Mortgage Bankers' Association] anticipates renewed activity in the housing market heading into the spring, especially if housing supply continues to rise," MBA's president and CEO Bob Broeksmit said in a statement.
-Aarthi Swaminathan
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-11-24 1226ET
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.-
These Stocks Are (Still) Powering the Bull Market
-
5 Undervalued Energy Stocks to Play the AI Data Center Demand Boom
-
After Earnings, Is Lowe’s Stock a Buy, Sell, or Fairly Valued?
-
5 Stocks With the Largest Fair Value Estimate Cuts After Q1 Earnings
-
10 Stocks With the Largest Fair Value Estimate Increases After Q1 Earnings
-
Markets Brief: Inflation Back in the Spotlight
-
AI Is Booming, but Consumer Spending Is Slowing. Which Will Prevail in the Stock Market?
-
What’s Happening In the Markets This Week
-
3 Dividend Stocks for June 2024
-
After Earnings, Is Alibaba Stock a Buy, Sell, or Fairly Valued?
-
MongoDB Earnings: Slashing Valuation as Execution and Macro to Blame for Lower Guidance
-
Marvell Earnings: We Raise Our Medium-Term AI Forecast and Bring Our Valuation Up to $75
-
Zscaler Earnings: Impressive Traction in Emerging Products Drives Sales Growth for the Quarter
-
Dell Earnings: Raising Valuation on Strong AI, but the Stock Remains Severely Overvalued
-
After Earnings, Is Nvidia Stock a Buy, Sell, or Fairly Valued?
-
The 10 Best Companies to Invest in Now