By Crissinda Ponder • Bankrate.com
Mortgage rates barely moved this week after volatile government bond yields and mixed news about the economy made headlines.
Treasury yields fell to a 2-month low this week in response to disappointing economic data, but have since reversed course.
The 10-year Treasury yield closed at 2.15% Monday and bounced back to 2.27% by Wednesday afternoon.
Overall construction spending rose a measly 0.1% from May to June, the U.S. Census Bureau said Monday. That’s the smallest increase seen in 5 months. Residential construction rose 0.4%, however.
Consumer spending increased 0.2% in June compared with 0.7% in May, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Treasury yields started moving higher after the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s president hinted that there’s still a chance the central bank will increase the federal funds rate in September.
“My priors going into the (September) meeting as of today are that the economy is ready and it is an appropriate time to make a change,” Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.1% from 4.09%, according to Bankrate’s Aug. 5 survey of large lenders. A year ago, the rate was 4.29%. 4 weeks ago, it was 4.14%. The mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.24 discount and origination points. Over the past 52 weeks, the 30-year fixed rate has averaged 4.03%. This week’s rate is 0.07 percentage points higher than the 52-week average.
The benchmark 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.28% from 3.27%.
The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate jumbo mortgage fell to 4.02% from 4.05%.
The benchmark 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 3.24% from 3.22%.
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