Today's Best Mortgage & Refinance Rates for July 14, 2020

Applications to purchase newly built homes surged during the month of June as homeowners took advantage of historically-low interest rates and the supply of existing homes remained tight.

Loan applications for new homes increased by 20% over May numbers, according to seasonally unadjusted data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Builder Application Survey. Taking seasonal adjustments into consideration, the increase was 15% to a pace of 774,000 units—making June the strongest month since the beginning of the year. Year-over-year, applications increased 54%.

"The new home purchase market continues to recover," said Joel Kan, head of economic and industry forecasting for the MBA. "It is another piece of data indicating that homebuying activity that was delayed by the pandemic in March and April is just being realized later in the season. The fact that applications are up over 50% from last June further reinforces that point."

In a housing market that has been hampered by low inventory, a sustained recovery will depend on new homes to bolster supply.

"We do anticipate that new home construction will speed up to attempt to better meet demand," added Kan. "However, with the low level of homes for sale on the market, the sustainability of the upward trend in home purchase activity will hinge on supply ramping up more rapidly."

Average Mortgage Rates Today

For the week ending July 9, the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage set a new record low of 3.03% with 0.8 points paid, according to Freddie Mac. That's 0.04 percentage points below the previous low of 3.07%, set a week earlier.

The average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 2.51% with 0.8 points paid, down 0.05 percentage points from the previous week, while the average rate on a 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage increased to 3.02% with 0.3 points paid.

Average Refinance Rates Today

A year ago the average mortgage rate was 3.75%. A homeowner with a $250,000 mortgage balance paying 3.75% on a 30-year loan could cut their monthly payment from $1,158 to $1,058 by financing at today’s lower rates. (It is important to consider closing fees and that refinancing could reset the clock on your mortgage, meaning you will have to make payments longer.)

Today’s Mortgage Rates

Of course, mortgage rates vary widely by location and personal factors like location, the size of your down payment and your credit score. Here are today’s advertised mortgage rates at some of the mortgage industry’s largest lenders. (The rates you see may be different.)