30-year mortgages jump to 6.3%
October 24, 2002
(Reuters) — The average rate of U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages soared for the second consecutive week, threatening to slow a housing market that has remained red-hot despite the economic slowdown, Freddie Mac said Thursday.
Thirty-year mortgage rates rose to average 6.31 percent from 6.15 percent a week earlier, still near their record low of 5.98 percent posted in the Oct. 11 week, it said.
Fifteen-year mortgages also edged higher, to 5.70 percent from 5.56 percent, while one-year adjustable rate mortgages inched up to an average 4.30 percent from 4.27 percent.
A year ago, 30-year mortgages averaged 6.64 percent, 15-year mortgages 6.13 percent and the ARM 5.25 percent.
``The current rising rates will dull the edge of the refinancing market, but there remain homeowners who have put off refinancing for one reason or another who may now rush to their lender to take advantage of current rates,'' said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac chief economist, in a statement.
Nothaft added the market will be closely monitoring new and existing home sales for September released by the U.S. Commerce Department Friday.
Wall Street economists surveyed by Reuters forecast new home sales to fall to 991,000 from 996,000 in August. Existing home sales, however, were expected to rise to 5.38 million from 5.28 million in August.
Freddie Mac said lenders charged an average of 0.6 percent in fees and points on 30- and 15-year mortgages as well as the ARM, all up from 0.5 percent last week.
Freddie Mac is a corporation chartered by Congress that buys mortgages from lenders and packages them into securities for investors or holds them in its own portfolio. |
