Mortgages
- 4.68% (30-year fixed)
- 0.39 (average points)
With new statistics indicating this will be the worst year for used home sales since the housing market went bust, mortgage rates took a slight downward tick in the latest Bankrate survey.
The fixed-rate 30-year mortgage dropped 1 basis point, averaging 4.68 percent compared to last week's 4.69 percent. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point.
Other mortgages also saw little to no movement. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.82 percent, unchanged from a week earlier. Meanwhile, jumbo mortgages, or generally those for more than $417,000, slid to 5.17 percent, a dip of 3 basis points.
In the adjustable-rate mortgage niche, the 5/1 ARM dropped 4 basis points, to 3.36 percent.
Mortgages often move in tandem with the market for Treasury securities, and in the last week the yields, or interest rates, on Treasuries have shown little movement.
Mortgage rates are also affected by consumer activity and lender competition, and in those areas the housing market is still reeling from the damage of the housing bust. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that sales of previously owned homes fell 0.8 percent in June. The housing sector is on track to have 4.77 million existing home sales this year. That would fall short of last year's 4.91 million sales, which was the worst performance in 13 years.