Mortgage Rates Continue to Hold Steady

Mortgage rates were up in the morning but adjusted downward in the afternoon, giving us another day of rates essentially holding steady as they were before the holiday weekend. Simply put, as I have stated in my morning blog on my website in Rates and Trends on Call The Money Man we have been in a sideways pattern for a long period of time, even though over the past several months since the year began, we are down.  The most prevalently quoted conforming 30yr fixed rate for best-case scenarios is unchanged at 4.25%.  

Markets are waiting for some key events on next week's calendar, and rates will almost certainly have made up their mind by then.  For now though, there are arguments against moving too far in either direction.  Until that change, the day-to-day movement should remain contained, thus limiting both risk and reward for floating.

In summary, nothing has changed in the interest rate environment to change my outlook on locking anything closing in the short term. With the increase in important economic data pieces ramping up over the next week and a half, however, it is important to keep in close touch with your hand on the trigger.   This is especially true as we get in to the critical Non-Farm Payrolls (aka Jobs Report) a week from this Friday. Things could get interesting very quickly.