Mortgage Rates Slip Again This Week
Rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages, the benchmark for the home mortgage loan industry, fell to 6.63 percent from 6.67 percent, according to a weekly survey.
Average rates on 15-year fixed-rate products, popular with home mortgage loan refinance seekers also declined, to 6.30 percent from 6.34 percent.
Despite falling for three weeks, average rates on 30-year mortgages are still higher than they were during the first five months of the year.
The mortgage rates climbing on May 17, to 6.21 percent from 6.15 percent, and crested on June 14, when they came in at an average of 6.74 percent.
“Long-term mortgage rates continued to move lower for a third consecutive week, in part reflecting a moderation in core inflation,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.
He noted that May’s core personal consumption expenditures registered the lowest year-over-year rise in more than three years.
That report, a measure of inflation released by the Commerce Department on June 29, showed spending on consumer goods, excluding food and energy, went up by 1.9 percent over the last 12 months.
That’s the smallest rise since March 2004.
Average mortgage rates were also lower than a year ago, when 30-year loans averaged 6.79 percent and 15-year loans - a popular option for refinancing - were 6.44 percent.
One-year adjustable rate home loans, on the other hand, jumped to 5.71 percent from 5.65 percent a week ago, but remained lower than the 5.82 percent rate of a year ago.
The “5/1″ ARM, set at a fixed rate for five years and adjustable each year following that, averaged 6.29 percent, compared with 6.30 percent a week prior and 6.39 percent last year.
A mortgage lender charged an average of 0.4 percent in fees and points on all mortgages. For 30-year and 15-year mortgages, that’s the same as last week, and for hybrid ARMs, they dropped slightly from 0.5 percent.
Freddie Mac is a mortgage company chartered by Congress that buys home loans from lenders and packages them into securities to sell to investors, or to hold in its own portfolio.
SOURCE: Reuters