Economic & Housing Research

Primary Mortgage Market Survey ®

– Lower Long-Term Rates a Help to Housing Market » more

	30-yr	15-yr
Avg. Rate
Fees/Pts

Next Rate Update:

Compilation of Weekly Surveys

Other Resources

Monthly Refi & ARM Shares

	Refi	ARM
May '09	72%	3%
April '09	78%	3%
May '08	49%	12%

Next Share Update:
July 20

Refi & ARM Share Data

Federal COF Index

	COFI
May '09	1.926
April '09	1.987
May '08	3.115

Next COFI Update:
July 20

Federal COF Index Data

July 2, 2009
Lower mortgage rates are helping to support the housing market. Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages peaked this year over the week of June 11th and are now around a quarter-of-a-percentage point lower this week. This has led to a 7.2 percent increase in conventional mortgage applications for home purchases by the last full week of June, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Although housing affordability fell slightly in May, April registered the highest level since records began in 1970, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Only 14.6 percent of a typical family's gross income would be needed to make the principal and interest payments on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for a median-priced home, which was one of the lowest percentages on record. This contributed to a four-month rise in pending existing home sales through May. The last time there were four consecutive monthly gains was in October 2004, the NAR indicated.

The decline in house prices may be moderating as well. Home values fell at a monthly rate of 0.6 percent in April, representing the smallest decrease since June 2008, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller® 20-city composite index. In addition, home prices rose in eight of the cities in April. » Next Commentary: July 9

Weekly Commentary - June 25, 2009

Weekly Commentary - June 18, 2009

Monthly Outlook

Freddie Mac compiles data on major economic and housing and mortgage market indicators and offers forecasts based on those indicators.

View the latest economic commentary and projections table PDF [PDF 235K].
View the latest outlook table XLS [XLS 737K].
Monthly Outlook archives

Refinancing Activity Reports

Freddie Mac compiles statistics on loans it purchases that refinance loans in its portfolio.

Q1 2009 Release - April 30, 2009
(Release of Q2 2009 Data:
July 30, 2009)
Q1 2009 Product Transition Release - May 21, 2009
(Release of Q2 2009 Data:
August 13, 2009)
Refinance Data Reports

Adjustable-Rate Mortgage Annual Survey

Freddie Mac conducts an annual survey of primary market interest rates on several ARM products.

Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index

Freddie Mac's CMHPI provides a measure of typical price inflation for houses within the U.S.

Q1 2009 Release -
May 28, 2009
(Release of Q2 2009 Data:
September 1, 2009)
CMHPI Data

Monthly Refinance & ARM Shares

Freddie Mac collects the Refinance and ARM share of applications, as reported by lenders who participate in the Weekly Mortgage Market Survey.

Refi & ARM Share Data

Disclaimer

Opinions, estimates, forecasts and other views contained in this page are those of Freddie Mac's Office of the Chief Economist, do not necessarily represent the views of Freddie Mac or its management, should not be construed as indicating Freddie Mac's business prospects or expected results, and are subject to change without notice. Although the Office of the Chief Economist attempts to provide reliable, useful information, it does not guarantee that the information is accurate, current or suitable for any particular purpose. © 2009 by Freddie Mac. Information from this page may be used with proper attribution.