California Mortgage Rates
In the golden state of California, the average rates for mortgages vary every week. The mortgage rate for a 30 year fixed mortgage rate is currently standing at 4.48% with a weekly change of -0.04% and 3-month change of +0.25%. The mortgage rate for a 15 year fixed mortgage rate is at 4.36% with a weekly and monthly change of -0.04% and +0.25% respectably. And the average rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) averages at 4.04% with a weekly and 3-month change of -0.01% and +0.25%.
Mortgage rates change every week making it difficult to lock in a quoted rate. We analyzed Californian banks mortgage rates for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage of $200.000 with 20% down payment with Cathay Bank offering the lowers at 3.88%. Next in line is Bank of America with 4.50%, followed by Citibank at 4.63%, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank at 4.88%, and Chase Bank offering mortgage rates at a whopping 5%. These rates can change from day to day, but it is clear that the lowest mortgage rate would cost you $753 per month, which is significantly less than the highest rate cost of $859 per month. Over the full course of a 30-year loan plan, the difference could be in $38.000 which is a lot of money to save in interest.
Source: chicagoagentmagazine.com
There is an 81.1% chance that mortgage rates will increase after the Federal Reserve act to increase mortgage rates throughout the country. Meaning we will not see any time soon low California mortgage rates.
Conforming Loan Limits In California
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (confusing) are government-sponsored enterprises (GSE) that purchase mortgages and then sell them to investors through Wall Street and any other channels they might find. Whenever a loan has met the GSE purchasing criteria, it is said to be a conforming loan. In November 2018, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that it would increase California conforming loan limits for 2019 in every state in the country. They also increased the loan limits for certain areas that are more expensive than their baseline, which for a single-family home is $484.350. That’s $31.250 increase from the 2018 baseline, which was $453.100. That’s the third straight year in a row that the baseline has been increased by the FHFA, but there are areas like San Francisco and New York City where the limit for a single family home loan is the all-time high of $726.525.
In the Golden State the highest conforming limits, for a single-family home, have the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Marin, Napa, Orange County, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz which stand at $726.525. The lowest California conforming loan limit stands at $484.350, which is the limit for the majority of counties for a single family home.
Source: brstatic.com
Bur borrowers still have options if they wish to obtain a mortgage loan that exceeds the amount of the 2019 conforming limits. Whenever a loan exceeds the cap set by the FHFA that loan is considered a “jumbo” mortgage product, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cannot buy it.
Even so, jumbo loans are still very widely available through the U.S. but qualifications are notoriously sticker for these products due to the higher risk involved.
