I use the weekly Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) to track mortgage rates. The PMMS series started in 1971, so there is a fairly long historical series.
For daily rates, the Mortgage News Daily has a series that tracks the PMMS very well, and is usually updated daily around 3 PM ET. The MND data is based on actual lender rate sheets, and is mostly “the average no-point, no-origination rate for top-tier borrowers with flawless scenarios”. (this tracks the Freddie Mac series).
MND reports that average 30 Year fixed mortgage rates decreased today to 4.22% from 4.24% on Friday.
One year ago, on Sept 22, 2013, rates were at 4.45%. In 2013, mortgage rates increased rapidly in June, and that led to slower existing home sales later in the year. Sales were still high in July and August – following the rate increase – because borrowers had locked in mortgage rates.
This year, rates have been mostly moving sideways over the last few months – so sales probably won’t be negatively impacted by mortgage rates like last year – and existing home sales will probably be up a little year-over-year later this year.
Here is a table from Mortgage News Daily: