U.S. mortgage rates have slumped for two weeks in a row and the steepest drop in the past week since late 2008 as fears of a recession mount.
Freddie Mac (Freddie Mac) said on Thursday (7th) that the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in the United States fell from 5.7% to 5.3% in the past week, the largest decline since the same period in December 2008.
In addition, the average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rate also fell 38 basis points from a week ago to 4.45%, and the average 5-year Treasury-indexed mixed floating-rate mortgage rate also fell 31 basis points to 4.19%.
Still, mortgage rates are still well above where they were a year ago, with the 30-year average at 2.9% a year earlier.
Because mortgage rates are generally the same as in the U.S. 10-year Treasury yieldIn close association, fears of a U.S. recession have grown, prompting investors to pile into Treasuries, pushing down mortgage rates.
Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater said the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate has slipped 0.5% over the past two weeks as recession fears intensified, even as it helpedAlleviating some of the pressure on homebuyers, but low housing affordability and expectations of a slowing economy,will makeHouse price growth has slowed sharply.
In addition to falling interest rates, mortgage applications fell 5.4% in the week to July 1, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), a sign of a broad cooling in the U.S. housing market indeed.