Mortgage rates barely move in advance of Fed meeting

Interest rates on mortgages were mostly unchanged this week as markets anticipate the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy-setting meeting Tuesday and Wednesday.

Rates have been “eerily consistent” lately, said Jim Sahnger, mortgage planner at Schaffer Mortgage in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

“If you look at it strictly from a trading perspective, we’ve been trapped in a reasonably tight range and we’ve been doing this pretty much for the last couple of weeks,” he said.

A look at rates this week

• The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.75 percent from 3.72 percent, according to Bankrate’s April 20 survey of large lenders. A year ago, it was 3.79 percent. Four weeks ago, the rate was 3.9 percent. The mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.19 discount and origination points. Over the past 52 weeks, the 30-year fixed has averaged 4 percent. This week’s rate is 0.25 percentage points lower than the 52-week average.

■ The benchmark 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3 percent from 2.99 percent.

■ The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate jumbo mortgage fell to 3.67 percent from 3.69 percent.

■ The benchmark 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 3.13 percent from 3.11 percent.

Home sales bounce back

Existing-home sales rebounded in March after dropping significantly the previous month. Sales climbed 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.33 million from a downwardly revised 5.07 million in February, according to data released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors.

NAR also found the median price of existing homes for all housing types — single-family homes, townhomes, condos and co-ops — jumped 5.7 percent, to $222,700, from March 2015 to March 2016.

Joel Naroff, president and chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania, said the lack of housing inventory remains a problem.

There is only about a 4½ months’ supply at the current sales pace, Naroff said in a blog post. “That is way too low. With supply low, it is not surprising that price gains remain quite strong,” he says.

Loan apps inch higher

Mortgage applications rose by 1.3 percent last week compared with the week before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey. The unadjusted purchase index increased 1 percent and was 17 percent higher than the same week in 2015.

Sahnger said there’s been a surge in homebuying interest.

“We have a lot of people here getting preapproved (and) that want to buy,” he said, adding that the number of purchases and refinances is nearly even.