Bay Area Mortgage Interest Rates Rise Slightly: Week of August 11, 2017

Summary: Bay Area mortgage interest rates rose by a couple of basis points this week, settling at 3.45% for a 30-year loan. Rates are still lower than were this time last year.

A new report from Freddie Mac showed that Bay Area mortgage interest rates rose slightly during the week ending August 12, 2016. This is based on their Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), a weekly survey of lenders across the country.

A jobs report released in July surprised many analysts and economists. According to that report, the nation gained 255,000 jobs last month. Meanwhile wages rose 0.3%, which was more than expected.

In response to the positive report, the 10-Year Treasury yield rose to its highest level since June of this year. The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage loan rose two basis points, or 0.02%, to land at 3.45%, according to Freddie Mac.

Bay Area mortgage interest rates have been hovering below 4% all year. They’ve been below 3.5% since the end of June.

Note: These are the average rates for the 30-year fixed home loan loan in particular, which is the most popular mortgage product in use today. The rate you receive may vary due to a variety of factors, including loan features, credit qualifications, geography and more.

Bay Area Mortgage Interest Rate Trends: August 12, 2016

Here are the latest mortgage rate trends in the Bay Area and elsewhere across the country:

• The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.45% for the week ending August 12, 2016, with an average of half a point paid at closing. That was a slight increase over last week when it averaged 3.43%. This time last year, the 30-year FRM was averaging 3.94%. So Bay Area mortgage interest rates are actually lower now, on average, than they were a year ago.
• The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 2.76% this week, again with half a point paid at closing. That was a two-basis-point increase from the previous week, when it averaged 2.74%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.17 percent.
• The 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loan had an average rate of 2.74% this week, with an average of 0.5 point. That’s an increase of just one basis point (0.01%) from last week’s average of 2.73%.

So that’s where we are now. If you’d like to know where we might be headed, check out our mortgage rate forecast for Bay Area home buyers. It includes predictions and commentary from  leading industry analysts.

Meanwhile, Home Prices Continue to Rise

Bay Area mortgage interest rates might be fairly stable at the moment. But home prices in the area are still rising steadily. This is based on a recent report from CoreLogic.

In June 2016, the median price paid for a home in the nine-county Bay Area rose to $712,000. That marked three straight months of record-setting highs, and a 7.9% increase over June of last year. In other words, prices have never been higher than they are right now.

But thanks to low interest rates, the company said, mortgage payments for many home buyers in the Bay Area are lower now than they were in 2007, at the height of the housing bubble.

As Kathleen Pender wrote in The San Francisco Chronicle last month:

“Although Bay Area home prices seem astronomical … if you adjust for inflation and mortgage rates, the ‘typical monthly payment’ for new buyers is actually lower than it was in mid-2007, the precrisis peak in nominal home prices…”

House values might begin rising more slowly, as we move toward the end of the year. Many housing analysts expect Bay Area real estate markets to cool a bit next year, which might be a good thing.

Follow Us on Twitter to Stay Informed

Bridgepoint Funding publishes mortgage and housing news on a regular basis, to keep our readers informed. If you would like to receive updates relating to Bay Area mortgage interest rates, housing trends and related topics, you can follow us on Twitter @MTrejo_BPFund. It’s an easy way to keep up with local market trends.