Mortgage rates today: Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020

On Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose two basis points to 2.953%, the average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was unchanged at 2.546% and the average rate on a 5/1 ARM fell two basis points to 2.957%, according to a NerdWallet survey of mortgage rates published daily by national lenders. A basis point is one one-hundredth of 1%. Rates are expressed as annual percentage rate, or APR. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is one basis point higher than one week ago and 101 basis points lower than one year ago.

In the unpredictable week ending Oct. 2, not all mortgage rates moved in the same direction.

• The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.95% APR, down three basis points from the previous week's average.
• The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.52% APR, down four basis points from the previous week's average.
  
• The 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.97% APR, up two basis points from the previous week's average.

Despite the pandemic, a lot of people have been buying homes in the last few months. Home resales rose to an annual rate of 6 million in August, which was the fastest pace since December 2006, according to the National Association of Realtors

However, further slowdowns in hiring could cause some households to delay decisions to buy.

Excerpted from NAR and NerdWallet.com