Mortgage Rates Unchanged Amid Subprime Storm

Mortgage rates remained largely unchanged last week, despite wide-ranging news of a shakeout among many lenders of bad credit home loans.

The 30-year, fixed rate mortgage - the industry’s most common and benchmark loan - averaged 6.14 percent, unchanged from last week.

A year ago, the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage stood at 6.34 percent.

The 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage - a popular lending option for mortgage refinancing - averaged 5.88 percent, up slightly from 5.86 last week.

A year ago, the 15-year mortgage stood at 5.98 percent.

“U.S. mortgage rates moved little in the past week, as the latest economic news gave no reason for change,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac V.P. and chief economist.

“Over the course of next week, February’s inflation measures at the wholesale and retail levels will be published and could serve as the driving force behind further rate movement.”

The five-year treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 5.90 percent over the past week, unchanged from last week. The 5-year ARM last year averaged 5.93 percent.

The one-year ARM averaged 5.42 percent down from 5.47 percent last week. Last year at this time, one-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.37 percent.

Leading home builders that have reported weakness in prices as the housing market has fallen fast include Lennar, Pulte Homes, and D.R. Horton.

SOURCE: CNN Money