Mortgage Interest Rates

To understand why mortgage rates change we need to know why do interest rates change and there is not one interest rate, but many interest rates!

	Prime rate: The rate offered to a bank’s best customers.
	Treasury bill rates: Treasury bills are short-term debt instruments used by the U.S. Government to finance their debt. Commonly called T-bills they come in denominations of 3 months, 6 months and 1 year. Each treasury bill has a corresponding interest rate (i.e. 3-month T-bill rate, 1-year T-bill rate).
	Treasury Notes: Intermediate-term debt instruments used by the U.S. Government to finance their debt. They come in denominations of 2 years, 5 years and 10 years.
	Treasury Bonds: Long debt instruments used by the U.S. Government to finance its debt. Treasury bonds come in 30-year denominations.
	Federal Funds Rate: Rates banks charge each other for overnight loans.
	Federal Discount Rate: Rate New York Fed charges to member banks.
	Libor: : London Interbank Offered Rates. Average London Eurodollar rates.
	6-month CD rate: The average rate that you get when you invest in a 6-month CD.
	11th District Cost of Funds: Rate determined by averaging a composite of other rates.
	Fannie Mae Backed Security rates: Fannie Mae, a quasi-government agency, pools large quantities of mortgages, creates securities with them, and sells them as Fannie Mae backed securities. The rates on these securities influence mortgage rates very strongly.
	Ginnie Mae-Backed Security rates: Ginnie Mae, a quasi-government agency, pools large quantities of mortgages, securitizes them and sells them as Ginnie Mae-backed securities. The rates on these securities affect mortgage rates on FHA and VA loans.

Interest-rates move because of the laws of supply and demand. If the demand for credit (loans) increases, so do interest rates. This is because there are more people who want money, buyers, so people who are willing to lend it, sellers, can command a better price, i.e. higher interest rates.