Mortgage rates dropped to an all-time low last week as the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note, which tends to influence the direction of mortgage rates, posted a record-setting decline. But housing analysts say lenders may be stepping in to prevent mortgage rates from going even lower. The interest rate for the 10-year Treasury stood at 0.76% Friday afternoon—it had never before dropped below 1.1%—while Freddie Mac reported that the interest rate for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dipped to 3.29% for the week ending March 5.
Housing analysts say that with the low 10-year Treasury rate, borrowers should be able to get a mortgage rate of 2.75% or lower. But that’s not occurring, HousingWire reports, because some lenders may be purposely keeping rates higher in order to prevent demand from going too high. The lenders aim to ensure they can fulfill elevated mortgage requests due to a surge in demand.