WASHINGTON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Mortgage rates held steady in the United States this week after seeing major drops last week, the U.S. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, commonly known as Freddie Mac, said Thursday.
For the week ending April 4, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) in the United States averaged 4.08 percent, up from last week when it averaged 4.06 percent.
As mortgage rates remained low, mortgage applications in the United States saw a surge in recent days.
"Purchase mortgage application demand saw the second highest weekly increase over the last year and thanks to a spike in refinancing activity, overall mortgage demand rose to the highest level since the fall of 2016," said Sam Khater, chief economist of Freddie Mac.
Besides, Freddie Mac noted that 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.56 percent, down from last week's reading of 3.57 percent. For the same period a year ago, the figure was 3.87 percent.
"The benefits of the decline in mortgage rates that we've seen this year will continue to unfold over the next few months due to the lag from changes in mortgage rates to market sentiment and ultimately home sales," Khater said.
Freddie Mac is a corporation founded by U.S. Congress, aiming at promoting the stability and affordability in the U.S. housing market by purchasing mortgages from banks and other loan makers. The corporation has been conducting weekly surveys on U.S. mortgage rate since April 1971.
