fears surrounding the new variant of the virus that causes covid19 may have stoked volatility in the stock market but the mortgage rates have held steady the 30year fixedrate mortgage averaged 311 for the week ending dec 2 up one basis point from the previous week freddie mac fmcc reported thursday the 15year fixedrate mortgage meanwhile fell three basis points to an average of 239 the 5year treasuryindexed adjustablerate mortgage averaged 249 up two basis points from the previous week “the consistency of rates in the face of changes in the economy is primarily due to the evolution of the pandemic which lingers and continues to pose uncertainty” freddie mac chief economist sam khater said in the report typically mortgage rates will roughly follow the direction of longterm bond yields particularly the 10year treasury note tmubmusd10y  but this week that didn’t happen investors rushed to the safety of bonds in light of the market’s initial downturn and subsequent volatile streak in light of the emergence of the omicron variant of the virus that causes covid19 when demand for bonds rises their yields drop at the same time though federal reserve chairman jerome powell signaled that inflation was running hotter for longer than anticipated indicating that we should ditch the word “transitory” when describing rising prices as a result he said that the central bank may stop its assetpurchasing stimulus program sooner than originally indicated since the start of the pandemic the fed has been buying billions of dollars of assets to boost the economy those purchases have included mortgagebacked securities which pumped a great deal of liquidity in the mortgage market that liquidity allowed lenders to trim interest rates to the record lows seen earlier in the covid crisis but without those funds lenders will need to hike rates to make up the difference realtorcom for instance expected that mortgage rates will increase to 36 by the end of 2022 said george ratiu the realestate platform’s manager of economic research he noted that the expected rise in rates will create “even more affordability challenges for firsttime buyers” of courses there’s still a major variable out there that could drastically affect the trajectory of interest rates the omicron variant “economic data continues to show struggles in the supply chain that indicate higher inflation may be more persistent than previously expected” said zillow z zg vice president of capital markets paul thomas “the big wildcard for markets – and mortgage rates – will be the impact the omicron variant may have on economic recovery”