U.S. mortgage rates hold steady

30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate averages 3.73% for the week ending Dec. 19, 2019, unchanged from the previous week, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

Compares with 4.55% at this time a year ago.

“While the economy is in a sweet spot, improvements in housing market sales volumes will be modest heading into next year simply due to the lack of available inventory,” said Freddie Chief Economist Sam Khater.

15-year fixed-rate mortgage averages 3.19%, also unchanged from the previous week and down from 4.01% a year ago.

5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage rate average 3.37% vs. 3.36% a week earlier and 4.0% a year ago.

Homebuilder ETFs: ITB, XHB, HOMZ, NAIL, PKB, HOML

Mortgage-related ETFs: MORL, REM, MORT, DMO, PGZ, TSI, JLS, CMBS, JMT, LMBS