Mortgage rates won’t make any big moves this month and could stay near or below 3%, which means you have an extended window to secure an exceptional mortgage or refinance rate.
The current mortgage interest rates could be even better for certain types of refinance loans. A refinance fee introduced last year was eliminated this month and should make conforming conventional refinancing even cheaper.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has been hovering around 3% for a while. But some experts predict mortgage rates to rise slightly by the end of 2021.
Mortgage rates will remain low, certainly for the balance of the summer. The recent dip in mortgage rates is due to reports of increased COVID cases, which is bad for the economy.
However, bad news is good news for mortgage rates.
August is also a traditionally slower time for the housing market. When business slows down, banks have to compete more aggressively for business, which could also help keep rates from rising.
All of this is potentially good news for borrowers, who continue to have access to exceptionally low rates, even though they are up from their all-time lows earlier this year. Unfortunately, the economic recovery is not going to happen as quickly as some people would like it to. However, it’s going to give people the opportunity to refinance.
For homeowners who were unable to refinance because of a job loss or reduction in income but have since returned to work, the recent decline in rates gives them another opportunity to secure a historically low mortgage rate.
According to Logan Mohtashami, Lead Analyst at HousingWire, mortgage rates won’t be making big moves anytime soon. “We might just be around here for the rest of the year, between 2.75% to 3.25%,” he says. He believes that mortgage rates have moved as we should expect this year and are still within his initial forecast for 2021.
He also isn’t forecasting any big rate movements right now because it seems that the potential concerns with the Delta variant have already been factored into rates with last month’s declines.
One factor that could drive rates lower is if there is a large dip in the stock market. “There’s going to be a point where the stock market actually has a legitimate 10%-plus correction,” Mohtashami says. A drop in the stock market could drive mortgage rates lower.
What does the August rate forecast mean for refinancing?
This month, the Federal Housing Finance Agency ended its Adverse Market Refinance Fee, which was implemented in December 2020 and applied to conventional conforming refinance loans.
This 0.5% fee was technically paid by the lender, but it was often passed on to the borrower through increased fees or a higher interest rate.
By eliminating the fee, borrowers may see rates around 0.125% lower than before. When you combine that with July’s month-long decline in rates, homeowners who haven’t refinanced recently may want to consider it.
As a general rule, a rate and term refinance can make sense if you’re able to reduce your interest rate by at least 0.75%-1%.
If you are looking to refinance or purchase a home over the next few months, contact us today at 877-296-2696 or email us at info@homemortgageadvice.ca.