Mortgage rates are sitting near their best levels in more than a month, and that has already started to pull buyers back into the market. The average 30-year fixed rate fell to 6.35 percent from 6.42 percent, while applications for a mortgage to purchase a home rose 10 percent last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
That shift matters because the spring housing market had been looking soft. Lower borrowing costs, plus the higher inventory now available in much of the country, are giving buyers more room to act even as the macro backdrop stays noisy.
The rate move has been modest, not dramatic, but the direction is doing real work. Refinance demand rose 6 percent in the latest week, and the MBA said housing demand is still getting support from a resilient job market, even as oil prices and Middle East headlines keep bond markets, and mortgage rates, on edge.
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