Mortgage Rates Slide Slightly Downward

Average rates on mortgage loans were little changed throughout the U.S. in the past seven days, data from a weekly Freddie Mac survey showed on Thursday.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgage products - the industry’s most common and benchmark loan - slid downward ever so slightly to 6.16 percent from 6.17 percent, according to a weekly survey conducted among the nation’s home loan lenders.

Average rates on 15-year home loans - a popular mortgage refinance option - also fell to 5.87 percent from 5.89 percent a week ago.

Also, one-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.43 percent, down from last week’s average of 5.45 percent.

The costs of U.S. home mortgages, across the board, remained well below their year-ago levels, when 30-year home loans averaged 6.58 percent, 15-year home loans were 6.21 percent, and the one year ARM was 5.68 percent.

“Recent economic data releases showing weaker existing home sales in the month of March, coupled with lower consumer confidence in April, caused the market to pause and reevaluate the potential growth of the economy this year,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.

“This allowed all mortgage costs to decline slightly this week.”

The National Association of Realtors reported on Tuesday that March’s drop in existing home sales of 8.4 percent was the largest since January 1989.

Freddie Mac said that on average, a home loan lender charged around 0.5 percent in fees and points on 30-year and 15-year mortgage loans, both the same amounts as were charged last week.

Fees on the one-year ARM were also unchanged, at 0.7 percent.

The “5/1″ Hybrid ARM, set at fixed mortgage interest rates for five years and then adjustable each following year after that, fell to 5.88 percent from 5.92 percent last week.

Home loan lenders’ fees and points charged on the hybrid mortgage averaged 0.7 percent, up slightly from last week’s average of 0.6 percent.

SOURCE: Reuters