Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch
Mortgage rates are mostly determined by the trading levels of mortgage-backed bonds on the open market. When those bonds improve, mortgage rates move lower, all other things being equal. For a variety of reasons, that typical relationship has been hit and miss on any given day since the pandemic began. Today is a milder example. Bonds improved, but the average mortgage lender is offering rates that are nearly unchanged versus yesterday. The trade-off is that mortgage rates stayed much lower than the bond market suggested for most of the rest of the month of October. In other words, mortgage rates have been hesitant to move higher OR lower relative to the bond market’s suggestion. All that having been said, broad trends in the bond market are still important. The more bonds move in the same…(read more)