Forbearances Slow to a Trickle; Mortgage Rates Stage Nice Comeback, But Uncertainty Remains

Forbearances Slow to a Trickle; Mortgage Rates Stage Nice Comeback, But Uncertainty Remains

Mortgage rates staged a nice little comeback today, moving back toward the all-time lows seen late last week. Mortgage rates are determined primarily by the bond market, and the bond market benefited from strong demand at the end of the month. Higher demand means higher prices, and higher bond prices equate to lower rates. There has been some concern that the overall bond market (which includes mortgage-specific bonds as well as benchmarks like US Treasuries) was gradually moving toward higher rates in the past few weeks. As of today, however, 10yr Treasury yields (the most quintessential benchmark for longer-term interest rate momentum) improved for a third straight day. This went a long way toward arguing against the recent, gentle uptrend in rates but fell short of suggesting a big drop