The average rate for a benchmark 30-year loan has ticked up for the third week in a row, but the current 3.73 percent rate remains 5 basis lower versus the same time last year and 24 basis points below the 3.97 percent rate in place prior to the Fed’s first rate hike in December.
And in a move which shouldn’t have caught any plugged-in readers by surprise, The Fed will not institute a second rate hike this month and has halved original expectations of a full-point rise in the Federal Funds Rate by the end of the year.