Mortgage
rates
held
steady
over
the
past
week
despite
recent
signs
of
relief
from
the
labor
market,
according
to


HousingWire’s

Mortgage
Rates
Center.
In
large
part
because
of
the
lack
of
clarity
as
to
when
the


Federal
Reserve
will
begin
cutting
the
benchmark
rate,
mortgage
rates
remained
above
the
7%
level. 

The
average
30-year
rate
for
conforming
loans
sat
at
7.11%
on
Tuesday,
unchanged
from
one
week
ago.
At
this
year’s
peak,
the
same
loan
type
reached
7.57%
in
April.
Meanwhile,
the
15-year
conforming
rate
ceased
its
steep
rise
and
reached
6.93%
on
Tuesday
from
6.99%
the
previous
week.    

HousingWire
Lead
Analyst

Logan
Mohtashami
said
that
mortgage
rates
historically
move
in
connection
with
the
10-year
yield,
which
“had
a
crazy
move
higher”
two
weeks
ago
but
headed
lower
on
Friday
after
the
jobs
report. 

“Bond
yields
did
fall,
and
pricing
has
gotten
just
a
tad
better,
but
it’s
nothing
of
note,”
Mohtashami
said.
“The
spreads
have
kept
mortgage
rates
more
stable.” 

According
to
Mohtashami,
the
spread
between
the
30-year
mortgage
rate
and
the
10-year
yield
has
been
an
issue
since
2022,
and
conditions
worsened
following
the
March
2023

banking
crisis.
He
added,
“If
we
took
the
worst
levels
of
the
spreads
from
2023
and
incorporated
those
today,
mortgage
rates
would
be
0.56%
higher
right
now.”

Data
from
the


U.S.
Bureau
of
Labor
Statistics
released
on
Friday
showed
that
total
nonfarm
payroll
rose
by
206,000
jobs
in
June,
compared
to
218,000
jobs

in
May
(which
was
revised
down
from
272,000).
Economists
say
it
is
good
news
for
the
Fed
to
start
cutting
rates,
but
there
is
uncertainty
about
when
it
will
start. 

“We
continue
to
see
headlines
and
data
points
driving
rate
movement
in
the
absence
of
concrete
evidence
of
when
the
Fed
will
start
the
rate-cutting
cycle
in
the
face
of
sticky
inflation,”
said
Sarah
Alvarez,
vice
president
of
mortgage
banking
at

William
Raveis
Mortgage. 

Fed
Chairman
Jerome
Powell
has
stated
that
officials
expect
it
will
be
appropriate
to
reduce
the
federal
funds
rate
target
range
once
they
have
gained
greater
confidence
that
inflation
is
moving
sustainably
toward
the
2%
target. And
— stop
us
if
you’ve
heard
this
before
— they
are
not
there
yet.

“Incoming
data
for
the
first
quarter
of
this
year
did
not
support
such
greater
confidence,”
Powell
said
during
the
semiannual
monetary
policy
report
to
the
Congress
on
Tuesday
morning.
“The
most
recent
inflation
readings,
however,
have
shown
some
modest
further
progress,
and
more
good
data
would
strengthen
our
confidence
that
inflation
is
moving
sustainably
toward
2%.”

Besides
monetary
policy,
uncertainties
related
to
the
presidential
election
are
also
impacting
the
markets,
according
to
Alvarez. 

“There
is
always
a
lot
of
uncertainty
surrounding
an
election,
and
we
saw
the
recent
debate
results
push
rates
up
more
than
expected,”
Alvarez
said.
“However,
as
we
continue
to
see
data
indicating
that
inflation
and
the
economy
are
weakening,
rates
will
start
to
come
down
more
significantly.
Anyone
hoping
for
a
straight
ride
down
will
be
disappointed.”

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