Mortgage Rates managed to make modest gains today, moving just slightly lower for the average lender.  That's a welcome development after 10 straight days of higher rates, but it's more of a symbolic victory for now.  Reason being: most lenders are quoting the exact same rates as yesterday, with improvements limited to small adjustments in upfront costs.  In other words, rates are lower on average, but by such a small amount that the average borrower won't see a change.  3.625% continues as the most prevalent quote on top tier scenarios, up from 3.375% just 2 weeks ago.

Keep in mind, if you see any other articles on mortgage rates today (especially if the source is a major media outlet or a financial news site), that Freddie Mac's weekly rate report came out today.  It conveyed a surprisingly small amount of the actual rise in rates that's taken place over the past 2 weeks.  As always, remember that that Freddie's data is survey-based and that it pertains to survey responses received on Monday-Wednesday of any given week.  

Per Freddie Mac: "survey reminder emails are sent out on Mondays and lenders are asked to respond by close of business Wednesday."  That means that this week's responses could have been distorted by the Columbus Day market closure on Monday (lenders who responded would only have Friday's rates to reference), and that much of the impact from Tuesday's bigger jump in rates went undetected.