August Surprise Impacts September Mortgage Rates!

Just when mortgage rates had ticked down a bit and it appeared they would remain in the low 6% range the Labor Department played a trick on the mortgage market. Last week the Labor Department released the September jobs report showing an increase of about 110,000 jobs for the month. No surprise there. The surprise came in the next paragraph when the LD announced a revision of the August jobless numbers. A huge revision.

In August the LD reported a loss of about 4,000 jobs (the first negative trending in years) and a trend that caught the attention of the mortgage market and led to lowering of 15 and 30 years mortgage rates. The revised August numbers reflected a 93,000 job swing since the real number was 89,000 new jobs created in August. This large number took the financial markets by surprise and immediately long term interest rates jumped.

30 year fixed rate mortgages rose to a national average of 6.5% versus 6.2% four weeks ago. National averages for this week's rates are as follows:

30-year fixed - 6.5%

15-year fixed - 6.18%

5 year ARM - 6.37%

If you need information about current rates in the local market feel free to give me a call.