HSH.com is one of the nation’s largest publishers of mortgage and consumer loan information. Recently, the publisher released its Weekly Mortgage Rates Radar for the week ending July 26. According to it, the average rate for conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose by 0.04 percent, reaching 3.54 percent. It marked the third consecutive week of rate increases.
Good news for homeowners and homebuyers
All eyes were on the Federal Reserve last Wednesday. Citizens watched anxiously to see if interest rates would rise following the Brexit vote. As many expected, the central bank kept them unchanged. But it also upgraded its assessment of the U.S. economy, saying that the risks to the recovery have diminished.
“Financial markets have quieted greatly over the last few weeks, and U.S. economic data has been pretty favorable, so interest rates have firmed a little,” Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com, said in a news release. “Despite the uptick, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages remain about a half percentage point below 2016 highs and are presenting a tremendous opportunity for homeowners and homebuyers.”
The Fed raised rates last December, for the first time since 2006. However, nothing has changed since, due to a series of unfortunate foreign events such as the Brexit. Some experts have already suggested that the Fed may not be ready to raise interest rates until the Christmas holidays,
“The Fed will be cautious about tipping its hand, and will likely express a desire to continue observation of incoming data to assess any economic repercussions of the vote,” Gumbinger added. “For now, mortgage rates are wandering around with a slightly upward bias, so we might see a continued drift higher in the days ahead.”
