DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Mortgage rates fell this week, with the average rate on 15-year
fixed-rate mortgages dropping back below 5%, according to Freddie
Mac's (FRE) weekly survey of mortgage rates released Thursday.
Mortgage rates spiked in recent weeks, reversing a months-long
downtrend, as Treasurys slumped in price amid worries of the flood
of supply being sold by the federal government to finance its
ballooning deficit.
Treasurys have rebounded somewhat in recent days, with Freddie
chief economist Frank Nothaft saying benign inflation figures
helped reverse the upward trend for mortgage rates this week.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.38% for the week
ended Thursday, down from last week's 5.59% average and 6.42% a
year ago. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were 4.89%, down
from 5.06% and 6.02%, respectively.
Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages
averaged 4.97%, down from 5.17% last week and well below their
5.89% average a year ago. One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs were
4.95%, down from 5.04% and 5.19%, respectively.
To obtain the rates, the fixed-rate mortgages required payment
of an average 0.7 point and the ARMs required an average 0.6 point.
A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid
interest.
-By Kerry E. Grace, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5089;
kerry.grace@dowjones.com