After increasing a bit for the week ending August 12, 2021, U.S. mortgage interest rates have remained relatively flat over the past two weeks, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
"The tug-of-war between the economic recovery and rising COVID-19 cases has left mortgage rates moving sideways over the last few weeks," Sam Khater, Freddie Mac's Chief Economist, said. "Overall, rates continue to be low, with a window of opportunity for those who did not refinance under three percent. From a home buyer perspective, purchase application demand is improving, but the major obstacle to higher home sales remains very low inventory for consumers to purchase."
In Massachusetts, the number of single-family homes available in July declined 40.3 percent from 9,236 in July 2020 to 5,518 houses. The number of months supply of inventory statewide fell from 2.0 months in July 2020 to 1.1 months in July 2021, a 45 percent plunge.
The 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage loan averaged 2.17 percent, with an average of 0.6 points, increased a bit from 2.16 percent the previous week. During the same week last year, the 15-year loan averaged 2.46 percent.
The five-year, adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.42 percent, with an average of 0.2 points, compared to 2.43 percent the prior week, a 2.91 percent the year before.
Mortgage applications to purchase a home increased from the previous week but declined on a year-over-year basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 20, 2021
The seasonally adjusted "Purchase Index" increased 3 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent compared with the previous week but was 16 percent lower than the same week in 2020.