【World Property Guide】Coronavirus Slowing U.S. Housing Market, Despite Low Mortgage Rates

It has been a wild ride for mortgage rates over the past month, which touched record lows then rebounded just as fast. Low rates are typically associated with healthy housing demand and a strong market - especially now that we've entered home shopping season - but early signs indicate the market is slowing, reports Zillow Group. 

As the calendar turned and the Federal Reserve made its first of two March interest rate cuts, mortgage rates reached record lows. This sparked a historic flurry of refinance activity, which jumped as much as 79% in a week and 479% from a year earlier, prompting the Mortgage Bankers Association to double its forecast for refinance originations in 2020.

But mortgage rates have jumped sharply in the days since, up a full percentage point since hitting record lows, baffling market observers as they moved counter to other measures such as Treasury yields. Despite these recent gains, rates are still low relative to historic norms, sitting about 60 basis points lower than this time last year.

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