The Federal Reserve offered no surprises in its latest short-term interest rate announcement and mortgage rates are unchanged today. Overall, loan pricing is down for the week, though rates crept slightly higher yesterday.
By standing pat, the Fed met the expectations of the market — but signaled higher rates are still on its agenda.
“The post-meeting statement indicated the Fed still looks to make two more rate hikes before the end of the year and three per year starting in 2017,” wrote mortgage rate analyst Al Bowman in a note late Wednesday. “It also referenced the slower growth in the employment sector but they expect that to be only temporary. It did not address potential issues if Britain does decide to leave the Euro, which is a bit interesting since that vote is coming very soon.”
A NerdWallet survey of lenders early Thursday revealed the average rates for the most popular loan terms:
Mortgage Rates: June 16, 2016
(Change from 6/15)
30-year fixed: 3.70% APR (NC)
15-year fixed: 3.06% APR (NC)
5/1 ARM: 3.33% APR (NC)
Lock or float your mortgage rate?
“I believe it’s time to be in a conservative approach toward rates. The risk versus reward of floating a rate for potential gain, compared to the risk of rates going up, is definitely tilted where I would recommend locking,” Bowman tells NerdWallet. “As for mortgage rates, I think there’s too much stacked up against them to see them go much lower at this point. I think there’s much more likelihood of them going significantly higher than seeing rates go significantly lower.”
As always, any decision to lock a mortgage rate should be based on the borrowers’ risk tolerance and their short- and long-term goals.
NerdWallet daily mortgage rates are an average of the lowest published APR for each loan term offered by a sampling of major national lenders. Annual percentage rate quotes reflect an interest rate plus points, fees and other expenses, providing a more accurate view of the costs a borrower might pay.
Hal Bundrick is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: hal@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @halmbundrick.
No comments:
Post a Comment