Mortgage Rates

Last week's economic news was slim, with few scheduled reports released. Job openings for April, along with weekly readings on mortgage rates and weekly jobless claims were released. Job openings rose in April, while weekly jobless claims were lower. The headline event last week was a further decrease in fixed-rate mortgage interest rates. Mortgage Rates Lowest in Almost 7 Months Freddie Mac reported that average rates for fixed rate home loans fell again last week. Mortgage rates typically follow 10-year Treasury yields, which also fell last week. The average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropped five basis points…

Last week's economic releases included readings on inflation, core inflation pending home sales and multiple reports from the labor sector. Weekly readings on mortgage rates and new jobless claims were also released. Pending home sales were lower and weekly jobless claims rose, which illustrates continued volatility in the economic sector. Inflation rose 0.40 percent in April, which matched projections and exceeded April's reading of 0.30 percent. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy sectors, grew by 0.20 percent and exceeded expectations of 0.10 percent growth based on a negative reading of -0.20 percent in March. The Federal Reserve has…

Sales of new and previously owned homes were lower in April after reaching near-record levels in March. Mortgage rates were lower last week and new jobless claims were little changed. New Home Sales Fall in April; March Reading Revised New home sales were lower in April after moving higher in March. The Commerce Department revised March figures for new home sales to 642,000 sales on a seasonally-adjusted annual basis. April sales of new homes fell by 11.40 percent to 569,000 new home sales, which fell shy of 605,000 expected sales in April. Sales of new homes reported by the government…