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Average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the US slips to 6.81%

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Average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the US slips to 6.81%
Business

Business

Average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the US slips to 6.81%

2024-11-28 02:13 Last Updated At:02:20

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. eased this week, though it remains near 7% after mostly rising in recent weeks.

The rate slipped to 6.81% from 6.84% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Wednesday. That’s still down from a year ago, when the rate averaged 7.22%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower rate, rose this week. The average rate climbed to 6.1% from 6.02% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.56%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including the yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury bonds, which lenders use as a guide to price home loans. The yield, which mostly hovered around 4.4% last week and was below 3.70% in September, has eased this week. It was at 4.23% at midday Wednesday.

Elevated mortgage rates and rising home prices have kept homeownership out of reach of many would-be homebuyers. U.S. home sales are on track for their worst year since 1995.

“The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage moved down this week, but not by much,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Potential homebuyers are also waiting on the sidelines, causing demand to be lackluster. Despite the low sales activity, inventory has only modestly improved and remains dramatically undersupplied.”

Mortgage rates slid to just above 6% in September following the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut its main interest rate for the first time in more than four years. While the central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, its actions and the trajectory of inflation influence the moves in the 10-year Treasury yield. The central bank’s policy pivot is expected to eventually clear a path for mortgage rates to generally go lower. But that could change if the next administration’s policies send inflation into overdrive again.

September’s pullback in mortgage rates helped drive a pickup in sales of previously occupied U.S. homes last month, and likely helped give a boost to demand early last month.

The National Association of Realtor’s pending home sales index rose 2% in October from the previous month, its third straight monthly increase, the trade group said Wednesday. Pending transactions were up 5.4% compared to October last year.

A lag of a month or two usually exists between when a contract is signed and when the home sale is finalized, which makes pending home sales a bellwether for future completed home sales.

Still, because mortgage rates have mostly kept rising in recent weeks, that could dampen sales this month and next in what's already typically a slow season for the housing market.

“Though mortgage rates are likely to decline in the coming weeks, the dip will be too little and too late to boost home sales in December,” said Ralph McLaughlin, senior economist at Realtor.com.

Forecasting the trajectory of mortgage rates is difficult, given that rates are influenced by many factors, from government spending and the economy, to geopolitical tensions and stock and bond market gyrations.

Economists predict that mortgage rates will remain volatile this year, but generally forecast them to hover around 6% in 2025.

FILE - A sign announces the sale of a new home, Jan. 16, 2024, in Kennesaw, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

FILE - A sign announces the sale of a new home, Jan. 16, 2024, in Kennesaw, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

BERLIN (AP) — The eldest son of Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit was released from custody on Wednesday after his arrest last week on rape allegations, his lawyer said.

Marius Borg Høiby, 27, is the stepson of the heir to the Norwegian throne, Crown Prince Haakon, and the son of Mette-Marit from a previous relationship. He has no royal title or official duties.

Borg Høiby was arrested last week in Oslo on a preliminary charge of having had “sexual intercourse with someone who is unconscious or for other reasons unable to resist the act,” police said. In Norway, a preliminary charge comes before a formal charge and allows authorities to detain suspects during an investigation.

At the time, the authorities did not say when the alleged rape occurred. Norwegian media reported that Borg Høiby denied the accusation.

Prosecutor Andreas Kruszewski said on Wednesday that police had reviewed the evidence seized in connection with Borg Høiby's arrest and had conducted witness interviews.

Oslo police said in a statement that the decision was taken not to seek the further detention of Borg Høiby. “As of now, we can no longer see that there is a risk of evidence being tampered with,” it said.

The statement added that a police investigation has been launched into “a further matter relating to sexual offenses,” without giving details of that case.

Øyvind Bratlien, Høiby’s defense attorney, said his client's release was “not surprising.”

"He shouldn’t have been imprisoned at all,” Bratlien told broadcaster NRK. He later confirmed to Norwegian news agency NTB that his client had been released.

The royal palace had no comment regarding the allegations against Borg Høiby, NTB said.

Borg Høiby lives with the royal couple and their two children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus.

Norway’s future queen made headlines in 2001 when she married Haakon because she was a single mother whose previous companion had been convicted on drug charges.

FILE - Norway's Marius Borg Hoiby and Crown Princess Mette-Marit in Oslo, June 16, 2022. (Lise Aserud/NTB via AP, File)

FILE - Norway's Marius Borg Hoiby and Crown Princess Mette-Marit in Oslo, June 16, 2022. (Lise Aserud/NTB via AP, File)

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