US mortgage rates see another decline

According to Freddie Mac's latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the average mortgage rate in the U.S. dropped for the second consecutive week. Sean Becketti, chief economist of Freddie Mac said, "The 10-year Treasury yield remained relatively flat this week. The 30-year mortgage rate fell 9 basis points to 4.14 percent, another significant week-over-week decline. Despite recent mortgage rate fluctuation, new home sales far exceeded expectations in February and jumped 6.1 percent to an annualized rate of 592,000."

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.14 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending March 30, 2017, down from last week when it averaged 4.23 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.71 percent.

• 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.39 percent with an average 0.4 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.44 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.98 percent.

• 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.18 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.24 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.90 percent.