Mortgage Rates Unchanged To Slightly Higher

By: Matthew Graham •

Mortgage rates were steady to very slightly higher in most cases on Monday, though some lenders were in slightly better territory than on Friday. Market movements were fairly subdued with the all of today's trading in Treasuries and Mortgage Markets contained inside the range established by Friday's highs and lows. Conventional 30yr Fixed Best- Execution remained at 3.375%.

(Read More:What is A Best-Execution Mortgage Rate?)

The slow start to the week was relatively expected owing to a light calendar of data and events. That said, stock markets had more to digest with numerous earning's reports causing more volatility there. At times when bond markets (which include the Secondary Mortgage Market) have relatively little to digest, it's not uncommon to see interest rates follow stock prices more closely. This has generally been true today, though they should never be assumed to correlate perfectly. As it stands, today's level of correlation serves as a nice confirmation that interest rates have kicked off the week without much conviction or predispositions to move in one direction or the other.

 See Rates from Lenders in Your Area

Loan Originator Perspectives

"We haven't seen price changes for the better since MBS returned from a slight loss to par in the last hour. Rates are still where they started the day, which about the same as Friday. We'll watch closely to see if MBS rebound holds and we get any improvement then lock. And even with no improvement today, the recent rate uptrend still warrants locking purchases that got into contract over the weekend and low-risk-tolerance refi borrowers before market close. " -Julian Hebron, Branch Manager, Loan Agent, RPM Mortgage.

"The market has established a recent range as far as treasuries are concerned, I would follow that trend until it is no longer the range. Within the 10 year yield of say 1.65-1.90 I would be more willing to play the game, with the exception that although we are in a range, the trend is more bearish for bonds than bullish (meaning the trend indicates rates are moving higher). With 3.25% somewhat off the table (on conventional 30 year loans), I would consider if 3.375-3.5% works for your deal and lock it up because the unfortunate reality is that 3.75% is more likely than 3% (in our opinion)." -Constantine Floropoulos, Quontic Bank

Today's Best-Execution Rates

  • 30YR FIXED - 3.375%-3.5%
  • FHA/VA - 3.25% (varies more between lenders than conventional 30yr Fixed)
  • 15 YEAR FIXED -  2.875%
  • 5 YEAR ARMS -  2.625-3.25% depending on the lender

Ongoing Lock/Float Considerations

  • Rates and costs continue to operate near all time best levels
  • Rates could easily move higher or lower, but given the nearness to all time lows, there's generally more risk than reward regarding floating
  • This will always be the case when rates operate near all-time levels, and as 2011 showed us, it doesn't always mean they're done improving.
  • (As always, please keep in mind that our talk of Best-Execution always pertains to a completely ideal scenario.  There can be all sorts of reasons that your quoted rate would not be the same as our average rates, and in those cases, assuming you're following along on a day to day basis, simply use the Best-Ex levels we quote as a baseline to track potential movement in your quoted rate).