It's happened before and it happened again today: Mortgages Rates hit new all time lows today.  Please note, that the actual interest rate you would have been quoted last week and this week may not have changed, but based on raw data from more than 20 leading lenders as well as feedback from the MBS Live community, the average Best-Execution rate, before rounding to the nearest eighth, hit its lowest level on record, 3.81%.  Although 3.81% is closer to 3.75% than 3.875%, we won't declare 3.75% to be the Best-Execution champ until the average from our lender survey falls to 3.75 or lower, and we're not there yet.  (if the last paragraph is confusing, we went into some more detail on these methodologies in THIS POST).

Last week, we noted a high degree of stratification in rates as lenders responded to the bond market rally at different paces.  This continues to be the case today, but perhaps to a slightly smaller extent.  When we say that rate offerings are more stratified, we're talking about various lenders offering increasingly different rates to the same type of borrowers.  Among some lenders in our survey, best-execution rates are still at 4.0%, while the bulk have moved down to 3.875% and 3.75%.  The important point here is to not believe everything you read about mortgage rates these days, unless the source examines multiple lenders and offers the caveat that they can only report averages while individual experiences may vary. 

For instance, several lenders are priced WORSE today than Friday.  It's far more important to be working with someone you trust in a process that is more likely to hit its deadlines than to go overboard in pursuing the lowest possible quotes.  In the current market, overfocus on lowest possible rates can lead to delays which can result in a higher rate than the one you were originally trying to avoid!

Today's BEST-EXECUTION Rates

• 30YR FIXED -  3.875% mostly, with a few lenders at 3.75%.  Less 4.0's today
  
• FHA/VA -3.75%
  
• 15 YEAR FIXED -  3.25%, some lenders venturing lower, some completely stuck at 3.25%
  
• 5 YEAR ARMS -  2.625-3.25% depending on the lender
  

Ongoing Lock/Float Considerations

• Rates and costs continue to operate near all time best levels
• Current levels have experienced increasing resistance in improving much from here
• There are technical reasons for that as well as fundamental reasons
  
• Lenders tend to get busier when rates are in this "high 3's" level and can throttle their inbound volume by raising rates or costs.
• While we don't necessarily think rates are destined to go higher, given the above facts, there seems to be more risk than reward regarding floating
• But that will always be the case when rates operating near historic lows
• (As always, please keep in mind that our talk of Best-Execution always pertains to a completely ideal scenario.  There can be all sorts of reasons that your quoted rate would not be the same as our average rates, and in those cases, assuming you're following along on a day to day basis, simply use the Best-Ex levels we quote as a baseline to track potential movement in your quoted rate).