The movement in mortgage rate averages for Friday, May 17, didn’t go very far compared to Tuesday’s measurements earlier in the week. Despite the fact that the latest jobs report shows sustained improvement and that housing starts are lower, the rates still remain locked in on the 3.68 percent target for 30-year mortgages. Additionally, inflation has not reared its head anywhere to cause further concerns. However, it is clear to many watching the markets that this figure is now solidifying as the floor versus the top of the range.

Mortgage-backed securities, which have quite a bit of influence on where loan rates go, seemed to be in a rally for the second half of the week. This trend seems to be helping with increasing rate levels versus dampening them further. Market watchers can now comfortably say that the securities are not contributing to going lower any longer.

Given the general improvement feeling on the market, and no signs of a downward movement materializing anytime soon, rate averages have held their previous positions and moved sideways in terms of progress for the trend-line analysts. The 30-year fixed mortgage, as noted above, is well entrenched at the 3.68 percent mark, but 3.75 percent is now starting to appear in a number of lender offers. The FHA/Veteran’s Administration loan rate remains the best way to go for those eligible staying at 3.25 percent. The 15-year fixed mortgage widens a bit from 2.75 percent to 3.1 percent, and the 5-year adjustable rate mortgage average floats between 2.625 percent and 3.25 percent with a strong average hugging 3 percent.

Rates for home-borrowing going into the week of May 15 have been riding the momentum from the previous Friday, moving slowly higher than previous weeks. Much is being made of retail sales reports, signaling that Americans have more discretionary funds to their names, which in turn may translate into more property sales over time. This is welcome news as rates continue to peter and dip versus moving closer to the 4 percent mark. Instead, the 30-year fixed bellweather metric now clings to the 3.625 percent mark going into the week. That said, it is an average, and deals at lower interest costs can still be found.

For those who like to do trend analyses, the week’s current rate level could be interpreted as a new floor versus previous months year-to-year. Versus 2012, the current 3.625 percent market is the high point average of 2012, according to some market watchers. Other aspects to keep an eye on include how the federal government will interpret the latest labor figures. It is becoming more and more apparent that the policy-setting teams are conflict in which direction to take next, i.e. whether to continue economic assistance or to now finally back off and let the economy fly on its own into recovery.

In terms of overall rate performance, the 30-year mortgage rate average, as noted above, now ranged from the rare 3.5 percent to the more common 3.625 percent, while the 15-year counterpart inches upwards as well to a tighter range of 2.75 percent to 2.875 percent. The FHA/Veteran’s Administration loan rate remains the one bastion of “unchanged” in the mix, locked in at 3.25 percent. Finally, the 5-year adjustable rate mortgage average spans 2.625 to 3.25 percent.

Since Tuesday, May 7, mortgage rates have been listing in a sea without wind, realizing a lack of movement in any direction. The last big movement influence still continues to be the prior week’s job report, which helped the rate averages move upward. Since then, as expected, there has been no further substantial movement, and none was expected since no additional reports or actions by the federal government was expected for the remainder of the week. In fact, rates for May 10 were pretty much identical in their ending position as that of the previous day.

No surprise then, the best contracts for mortgages have been regularly locking in with a 3.5 percent interest rate on borrowed funds. Bond markets continue to weaken in the face of a bolstered stock market, also dampening any rise potential. Borrowers can probably look for the situation to hold right through the weekend and to next Monday, providing significant savings versus any potential rise in the next few weeks.

The movement that did occur during intra-day changes swirled on petty rumors. There was some chatter that the Wall Street Journal was going to lobby an opinion piece critical of the Federal Reserve’s latest policies on the economy, but it was not substantiated. However, just the fact that the rumor existed was enough to cause activity among traders in the late morning. That said, the indicators that really matter to consumers were unchanged throughout the entire day’s window, with the seesaw action ending with a net zero change for the day. As a result, many lenders are recommending borrowers lock in the 3.5 percent or similar available since it’s a very respectable rate for borrowing on a home.

As noted above, the 30-year fixed rate average settled at 3.5 percent, and the 15-year counterpart was unmoved at 2.75 percent to 2.875 percent. Those who can enjoy an FHA or Veteran’s Administration loan still beat the market with access to a 3.25 percent average. And the 5-year adjustable rate mortgage average stayed the same at 2.625 to 3.25 percent.