For the week of April 12, 2021
Recap of last week: Rates slightly improved
Average mortgage rates improved slightly last week, continuing to rebound after rising for seven weeks from February into March.
Mortgage Rate Forecast: Rates could move either way this week
Average mortgage rates this week are hard to forecast and could go in either direction. There is a possibility that rates could improve slightly, depending on how investors react to this week's economic data and talk of inflation. However, if we see a negative reaction to any of the data, we could see rates lose a little bit of ground this week. Rates should remain steady though in the mid-term, meaning we shouldn't see any large rate increases and rates could get slightly better by the end of April.
What's affecting rates this week:
- Fed stimulus: The Fed continues to buy Treasuries and mortgage bonds, helping to keep rates low.
- Economic data: There is a full calendar of data this week, including inflation data on Tuesday and retail sales data on Thursday that could have an effect on rates and possibly cause some day-to-day volatility.
- Bond pricing: Lenders set mortgage rates based on the pricing of mortgage bonds, and we could see bonds lose some ground this week, pushing rates slightly higher.
