Mortgage rates edge higher
Long-term levels up from last week’s record lows
Long-term mortgage rates inched higher off of last week's record lows, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 — Interest rates on long-term mortgages inched higher this week, Freddie Mac reported. Thirty-year and 15-year levels rose off of last week’s record lows.
One-year adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) fell to an average 5.06 percent from 5.30 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac, a corporation chartered by Congress that buys mortgages from lenders and packages them into securities for investors. Last year at this time, ARMs stood at 7.24 percent.
These rates do not include add-on fees known as points, which averaged around 1 percent of the loan amount for all three types of mortgages.
“Speculation in the market that the Fed may not act as aggressively as investors had expected caused long-term mortgage rates to move up this week,” Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac deputy chief economist, said in a statement.
“But this slight bump up in rates is consistent with most economic forecasts and does not signal an end to current low mortgage rates,” he said.
The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates 10 times this year to stimulate the economy. On Dec. 11 the Fed will hold its final interest rate policy meeting of the year.
“Although Monday’s (Commerce Department) report on October housing starts will probably show a decline, there are also some signs that the slowdown in housing is easing,” Nothaft said. “Low mortgage rates should act as an important stimulant to the housing industry over throughout 2002.”
Freddie Mac said lenders charged an average 0.8 percent in fees and points on 30- and 15-year mortgages as well as the one-year ARM, all unchanged from the previous week. |
