Here Are Today's Best Mortgage & Refinance Rates for August 4, 2020
Home prices were up for the month of June as record low interest rates continued to provide buyers with a strong incentive to jump into the housing market. At the same time, the number of mortgage loans in forbearance plans continues trending down.
According to CoreLogic's Home Price Index, home prices were up nearly 5% year-over-year for the month of June. Month-over-month, home prices were up 1% over May numbers, the fastest monthly gain since June of 2013.
"Home appreciation continues at a solid pace reflecting fundamental strength in demand drivers and limited for-sale inventory," said Frank Martell, CEO of CoreLogic. "As we move forward, we expect these price increases to moderate over the next twelve months. Given the economic outlook, housing remains a bright spot for the foreseeable future."
The report also indicates that despite the overall increase in home prices, cities being economically impacted by flare-ups of COVID-19 infections are seeing declines in home prices. CoreLogic is forecasting a modest decline of 1% in prices nationwide by June 2021.
Meanwhile, the share of loans in forbearance declined for the seventh week in a row, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, with an estimated 3.8 million homeowners still taking advantage of the payment deferral program. That's down from a peak of 4.3 million in mid-June. However, with the job market cooling as the coronavirus pandemic wears on, some segments of the mortgage market are seeing a slight increase in new forbearance requests.
What are people paying for mortgages right now?
Borrowers with 700 credit scores were charged an average of 3.504% to secure a 30-year fixed-rate purchase mortgage on Monday, according to Money's survey of over 8,000 mortgage lenders across the country. The average rate for a 30-year refinance was 4.394%.
What are experts saying about home prices?
Leonard Kiefer, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac, commenting on how long we can expect low mortgage rates:
"Compared to a year ago, mortgage rates are down a lot, and they have recently been heading down even more. So that's going to provide a boost for the housing market. For the long term, that's going to persist for more than six or nine months."
For more information about mortgages go to Money's Best Mortgage Lenders of 2020.
What should house hunters be watching next?
On Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers Association will release its weekly mortgage application survey. The trend has been for applications to be well above year-ago levels. After months of high refinance and purchase volumes, the pace of applications has slowed in recent weeks as the economic recovery has also slowed.
What are today’s advertised rates?
Of course, mortgage rates vary widely by location and personal factors like 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. (All rates are APRs. The rates you see may be different.)
JP Morgan Chase
Based in New York, JP Morgan Chase has nearly 5,000 U.S. branches.
Mortgage rates advertised for August 4:
30-year fixed: 2.839%
15-year-fixed: 2.484%
5-year ARM: 2.662%
(Rates based on New York City zip code 10006.)
Wells Fargo
Based in San Francisco, Wells Fargo has more than 7,000 locations.
Mortgage rates advertised for August 4:
30-year fixed: 2.996%
15-year-fixed: 2.702%
5-year ARM: 2.827%
Quicken
Quicken, a non-bank lender based in Detroit, is the nation’s largest mortgage lender by dollar origination volume.
Mortgage rates advertised for August 4:
30-year fixed: 3.109%
15-year-fixed: 2.833%
(Quicken doesn’t advertise a five-year adjustable rate.)
Bottom Line:
Everything You Need to Know About Mortgage Rates in 2020
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