Today's Best Mortgage & Refinance Rates for June 3, 2020

Record low mortgage rates continue to lure potential homebuyers into the real estate market, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.

The volume of home purchase applications jumped 18% year-over-year for the week ended May 29, according to the group.

"The pent up demand from homebuyers returning to the market continues to support a recovery from the weekly declines observed earlier this spring," said Joel Kan, Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting for the MBA. Kan cautioned, however, that high unemployment and a low housing supply could hinder a more significant recovery in purchase applications over the coming months.

Despite still making up for more than half of all mortgage applications, refinance loan applications continued a 7-week decline, falling 3.1% from last week's numbers. Refinance applications made up 60% of all applications for the week ending May 29. Even with the steady decline, refinancing applications are more than double their year-ago levels.

The overall number of mortgage applications (both purchase and refinance loans) decreased by almost 4% from one week ago.

On Thursday Freddie Mac reported that the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage had fallen to a record low for the third time in 2020. At the same time, the National Association of Realtors said home list prices were 3.1% above their levels a year ago.

Average Mortgage Rates

The national average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.15% with 0.8 points paid, for the week ending May 28, according to Freddie Mac.

That’s 0.08 percentage points below the previous all-time low of 3.23% set April 30.

A year ago the average rate was 3.99%. A homeowner with a $250,000 mortgage balance paying 3.99% on a 30-year loan could cut their monthly payment from $1,192 to $1,074 by financing at today’s lower rates. (It is important to note that refinancing involves closing fees and will reset the clock on your mortgage, meaning you will have to make payments longer.)

According to Freddie Mac the average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 2.62%, while the average rate on a 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage was 3.13%.

Today’s Mortgage Rates

Of course mortgage rates vary widely by location and personal factors like the type of home you plan to buy, your down payment and your credit score. Here are today’s advertised mortgage rates at some of mortgage industry’s largest lenders.