Mortgage rates fell as bond yields affected by trade anxiety

Mortgage rates dropped as the stock market downturn at the start of the week drove yields on the 10-year Treasury lower.

"After dropping earlier this week on trade-related anxiety in financial markets, the benchmark 10-year Treasury stabilized on Wednesday, but at a level slightly lower than from the start of last week," said Freddie Mac Deputy Chief Economist Len Kiefer in a press release. "Mortgage rates followed and fell for the second consecutive week."

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.4% for the week ending April 5, down from last week when it averaged 4.44%, according to Freddie Mac. A year ago at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.1%.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage this week averaged 3.87%, down from last week when it averaged 3.9%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.36%.

The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.62% this week with an average 0.4 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.66%. A year ago at this time, the five-year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.19%.

"Though rates on the 30-year fixed mortgage are up 0.3 percentage points from the same week a year ago, a robust labor marking is helping home purchase demand weather modestly higher rates. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported in their latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey that the purchase index was up 5% from a year ago indicating that this spring is on track for a modest expansion in purchase mortgage activity," Kiefer said.

Zillow's economics team had a slightly different take on the stock market gyrations this past week.

"Fears over trade policy and stock market movement have not yet meaningfully spilled over into bond markets. Friday's monthly jobs report is the headline economic release this week, but markets know the economy is doing well and inflation — not employment — is the primary metric of concern. Wage growth will be closely scrutinized in Friday's data, but even a disappointing number could be written off to wintry March weather," Aaron Terrazas, Zillow's senior economist, said when that company released its own rate tracker on Wednesday.