The Mortgage Bankers Association is forecasting that mortgage rates will rise throughout 2013 - up to 4.4 percent by the fourth quarter, from a current rate of 3.4 percent for a 30-year fixed mortgage.
The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage edged down to 3.54 percent from 3.57 percent last week. That's near the 3.31 percent reached in November, which was the lowest on records dating to 1971. The average on the 15-year loan declined to 2.74 percent from 2.76 percent last week.
"Rates dropped last week after a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report on Friday," said Erin Lantz, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, according to a statement. "This coming week, we expect rates to remain depressed as lingering eurozone concerns and Japan's new monetary policy push investors to safer asset types like U.S. mortgage-backed securities."
The rate for a 15-year fixed home loan is currently 2.54 percent, while the rate for a 5-1 adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) is 2.28 percent.
Zillow's real-time mortgage rates are based on thousands of custom mortgage quotes submitted daily to anonymous borrowers on the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace site, and reflect the most recent changes in the market. These are not marketing rates, or a weekly survey, according to the report.
