U.S. mortgage interest rates fall to lowest levels since September - MBA

Applied Energetics

18/01/2023 12:00

Jan 18 (Reuters) - The average interest rate on the most
popular U.S. home loan dropped to its lowest level since
September as more evidence inflation is past its peak sent
Treasury yields lower, data from the Mortgage Bankers
Association (MBA) showed on Wednesday.
    The average contract rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage
fell by 19 basis points to 6.23% for the week ended Jan. 13.
Financial markets have been buoyed by a string of recent data
that shows high inflation is slowing, allowing the Federal
Reserve to scale back its hefty interest rate hikes and plan a
stopping point this spring.
    The yield on the 10-year note  US10YT=RR  acts as a
benchmark for mortgage rates.
    Mortgage rates soared to more than 7% last October as the
U.S. central bank raised its benchmark policy rate in 2022 at
the fastest pace in 40 years. The interest-rate sensitive
housing sector has borne the brunt of the Fed's actions, with
mortgage rates still almost double where they were one year ago.
    The respite on mortgage rates attracted more buyers. The
MBA's Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan
application volume, rose 27.9% from a week earlier, the biggest
jump since March 2020.
    The central bank is expected to slow its pace of rate hikes
to a quarter percentage point increase when it next meets on
Jan. 31- Feb. 1 after lifting its policy rate by 50 basis points
in December.  
 (Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
 ((Lindsay.Dunsmuir@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 384 8221;))