With zero modification versus Thursday’s newest levels, the 30yr set home mortgage rate index kept a 0.03% range for the whole week (and 0.04% returning to last Tuesday). At 6.32%, today’s mark is close sufficient to Friday’s 6.29% to say rates are hovering at the most affordable levels in more than a month.
The sideways drift shows unpredictability surrounding the next stage in the Iran war. Prospects for settlements were brought into question for most of the week, but enhanced somewhat on Friday. A successful end to the war would likely bring some extra improvement for rates, however the true test would be the longer-term truths for oil prices and their effect on inflation.
The week ahead brings the next Fed announcement. Markets are pricing in a no percent chance of a cut or a walking. The Fed’s rate cutting hands are tied until/unless inflation returns down and they will not preemptively presume that will happen till post-war oil cost dynamics play out for a couple of months.