The average rate for a benchmark 30-year mortgage effectively held over the past week, inching down 1 basis point (0.01 percentage point) from 6.28 to 6.27 percent. As such, the average 30-year rate is still 127 basis points, or roughly 25 percent, higher than at the same time last year and 362 basis points, or roughly 140 percent, higher than its all-time low of 2.65 percent in early 2021.
At the same time, while purchase mortgage activity has inched up from a 28-year low, it’s still down over 30 percent on a year-over-year basis, with pending home sales in San Francisco proper currently down over 40 percent and employment, both nationally and locally, starting to slip.