First Time Ever – Jumbo Mortgage Rates Lower Than Conforming Mortgage Rates

For the first time ever, average 30 year jumbo mortgage rates are lower than 30 year conforming mortgage rates in a recent mortgage survey. The Mortgage Bankers Association released their Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey showing average 30 year jumbo rates at 4.71 percent and average 30 year conforming rates at 4.73 percent.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) sets mortgage limits on conforming loans. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are restricted by law to purchasing single-family mortgages with origination balances below a specific amount, known as the “conforming loan limit.” The conforming loan limit in most of the U.S. is $417,000 for single family homes. Conforming limits for higher-cost housing areas within the continental U.S. run can be $625,500 and in Hawaii run as high as $721,000.

Lower Mortgage Rates on More Expensive Homes

Loan Type

Purchase Refinance with Cash out Refinance

State

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District Of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

FICO Score

Superior (780-850) Exceptional (760-779) Excellent (740-759) Very Good (720-739) Good (700-719) Above Average (680-699) Average (660-679) Fair (640-659) Need Improvement (620-639) Poor (350-620)

Loan Amount

$

Points

Up to 0 points Up to 0.5 points Up to 1 points Up to 1.5 points Up to 2 points Up to 2.5 points Up to 3 points

LTV

%

Loan Term

 15-Year Fixed  20-Year Fixed  30-Year Fixed  5-Year ARM  7-Year ARM  10-Year ARM

Show Advertiser Disclosure

The lenders whose rates and other terms appear on this chart are ICB's advertising partners. They provide their rate information to our data partner RateUpdate.com. Unless adjusted by the consumer, advertisers are sorted by APR from lowest to highest. For any advertising partners that do not provide their rate they are listed in advertisement display units at the bottom of the chart. Advertising partners may not pay to improve the frequency priority or prominence of their display. The interest rates, annual percentage rates and other terms advertised here are estimates provided by those advertising partners based on the information you entered above and do not bind. Any lender Monthly payment amounts stated do not include amounts for taxes and insurance premiums. The actual payment obligation will be greater if taxes and insurance are included. Although our data partner RateUpdate.com collects the information from the financial institutions themselves, the accuracy of the data cannot be guaranteed. Rates may change without notice and can change intraday. Some of the information contained in the rate tables including but not limited to special marketing notes is provided directly by the lenders. Please verify the rates and offers before applying for a loan with the financial institution themselves. No rate is binding until locked by a lender.

Lender

APR / Rate

Fees / Points

Payment

NMLS #1835285

5.440%

15-Year Fixed

5.250%

$5,000

Includes 0.750 points for $3,000

Lender Fees: $2,000

$3,216 /mo

Next >

NMLS #401822

5.535%

15-Year Fixed

5.250%

$7,500

Includes 0.875 points for $3,500

Lender Fees: $4,000

$3,216 /mo

Next >

NMLS #1025894

5.762%

15-Year Fixed

5.625%

$3,544

Includes 0.711 points for $2,844

Lender Fees: $700

$3,295 /mo

Next >

NMLS #1835285

6.128%

30-Year Fixed

6.000%

$5,500

Includes 0.875 points for $3,500

Lender Fees: $2,000

$2,399 /mo

Next >

NMLS #3030

6.407%

15-Year Fixed

6.250%

$4,000

Includes 1.000 points for $4,000

Lender Fees: $0

$3,430 /mo

Next >

NMLS #1025894

6.590%

30-Year Fixed

6.490%

$4,168

Includes 0.867 points for $3,468

Lender Fees: $700

$2,526 /mo

Next >

NMLS #401822

6.758%

30-Year Fixed

6.625%

$5,495

Includes 0.875 points for $3,500

Lender Fees: $1,995

$2,562 /mo

Next >

NMLS #1835285

6.764%

5-Year ARM

6.625%

$5,780

Includes 0.945 points for $3,780

Lender Fees: $2,000

$2,562 /mo

Next >

NMLS #3030

7.187%

30-Year Fixed

7.125%

$2,500

Includes 0.625 points for $2,500

Lender Fees: $0

$2,695 /mo

Next >

Rate data provided by RateUpdate.com. Displayed by ICB, a division of Mortgage Research Center, NMLS #1907, Equal Housing Opportunity. Payments do not include taxes and insurance premiums. Actual payments will be greater with taxes and insurance included. Rate and product details.

You can get a lower mortgage rate by actually buying a home with a price over the conforming loan limits. This doesn't mean that your payments would be lower, however, since your monthly payments would still be higher because the balance on a jumbo loan would be higher then the balance on a conforming loan.

The spread between both types of loans has been narrowing for several years now. Back during the financial crisis when it was hard to find a lender offering jumbo loans, the rate spread was around 2.00 percent. conforming rates are higher than jumbo rates due to the sharp run-up in 10 year bond yields recently, which drove 30 year conforming rates much higher.

Jumbo Mortgage Rates Will Move Higher Than Conforming Rates

In the coming weeks, jumbo rates will be higher than conforming rates but the "rate spread" will still be lower than the historical norm of 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent. In the MBAA's mortgage survey this week, average 15 year conforming rates are at 3.75 percent. Since the MBAA doesn't release data on average 15 year jumbo rates we won't know if average 15 year jumbo rates are lower than average 15 year conforming rates.

Fixed Conforming Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rates today on 30 year conforming loans reported by Monitor Bank Rates are averaging 4.67 percent, up sharply from the previous week's average 30 year rate of 4.47 percent. Average 30 year rates have been on a tear, moving more than 125 basis points higher since the beginning of summer.

Current mortgage rates on 15 year conventional loans are averaging 3.66 percent, up 16 basis points from last week's average 15 year mortgage rate of 3.50 percent. In the beginning of June, you could find lenders quoting 15 year conforming refinance rates as low as 2.25 percent with points.

Historically Speaking, 15 Year Refinance Rates Still Low

Now the lowest 15 year refinance rates available are above 3.00 percent at 3.125 percent with points. Though rates have moved higher, looking back current rates are still very low. Looking back at average 15 year rates in Freddie Mac's mortgage rate survey, we see 15 year rates in September 1991 averaged 8.69 percent.

Jumbo Mortgage Rates Today

Today's mortgage rates on 30 year jumbo loans reported by Monitor Bank Rates are averaging 4.86 percent, up from last week's average 30 year jumbo rate of 4.71 percent. Jumbo rates reported by us are still higher than conforming rates.

If you're wondering why the MBAA's rates are different from ours, the methodology for compiling average rates is different. Also the average rates reported by us in this article are as of today, whereas the average in the MBAA's report is for the week ending August 30, 2013.

Mortgage rates today on 15 year jumbo loans reported by Monitor Bank Rates are averaging 4.18 percent, up from last week's average 15 rate of 4.09 percent.

Today's Average Adjustable Mortgage Rates

Average 5 year adjustable jumbo mortgage rates reported and offered by us are still lower than average 5 year conventional adjustable rate. In fact, the rate spread between the two types of mortgage loans is rather large.

5 year jumbo adjustable rate are averaging 3.32 percent, up from last week's average 5 year jumbo adjustable rate of 3.57 percent.

5 year conforming adjustable rates are averaging 3.32 percent this week, up from last week's average 5 year conforming rate of 3.30 percent.