Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s weekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it each Friday afternoon.
- According to the latest report from Freddie Mac, mortgage rates declined slightly after seven weeks of continuous rate increases—still sitting below 8%.
- The 30-year mortgage rate is 7.76% as of Nov. 2, 2023, a 0.03% decline from the previous week. The 15-year mortgage rate remained the same week-to-week at 7.03%.
- Mortgage News Daily cites the “Best 2 Days for Mortgage Rates Since March.”
- Wells Fargo has warned that 8% mortgage rates would trigger a recession, albeit one closer to the early 1980s economic downturn than the Great Recession.
- The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a 2.1% decline in mortgage applications the week of Oct. 27, 2023 from the week prior.
- Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist, said of these application figures: “The impact of higher rates continued to be felt across both purchase and refinance markets. Purchase applications decreased to their lowest level since 1995 and refinance applications to the lowest level since January 2023. Applications for government loans saw much larger weekly declines than conventional, with government purchase applications down 3% and refinances down 9%.”
- The Federal Reserve opted not to hike interest rates at their latest meeting. In ideal circumstances, this, coupled with the consequential decrease in inflation, would also drag down mortgage rates and give the housing market a boost. However, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has signaled that another rate hike could occur before the end of 2023—hence, the atmosphere is one of uncertainty instead.
