Having ticked down to within 11 basis points of an all-time low last week, the average rate for a 30-year mortgage moved up 5 basis points to 3.47 percent over the past week but remains 40 basis points below the 3.82 percent rate in place at the same time last year, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
At the same time, the probability of the Fed enacting a rate hike by the end of the year, a probability which had dropped to below 35 percent at the beginning of August, has ticked up to 65 percent according to an analysis of the futures market.
The rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage has averaged 6.4 percent since 1990 and closer to 8.3 percent over the past 45 years.