From 8% to Under 7.5%, Mortgage Rates Had a Near-Record Week

From 8% to Under 7.5%, Mortgage Rates Had a Near-Record Week

The average top tier 30yr fixed mortgage rate was over 8% as recently as October 19th.  At the start of the present week, things weren't much better at 7.92%.  What a difference a few days make--especially the last 3.  The improvement seen on Wed-Fri is the 3rd biggest in well over a decade.  And if we throw out March 2020 (as we often do, due to unprecedented volatility relating to the onset of the pandemic), we're left with only one other example back early November of 2022. So is this some kind of seasonal pattern?  You'd be forgiven for drawing that conclusion, but in both cases, rates had recently surged to new long-term highs and then encountered surprisingly friendly economic data.  Last November it was a low reading in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) that gave investors ho