Long-term mortgage rates pushed higher this week, reversing a six-week decline, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage survey.
Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.62 percent for the week ended today, up from last week when it averaged 5.57 percent.
The average for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage this week is 5.14 percent, up from last week when it averaged 5.1 percent. Points on both the 15- and 30-year averaged 0.7.
Five-Year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.05 percent this week, with an average 0.7 points, up from 4.99 last week. There is no annual historical information for last year since Freddie Mac only began tracking this mortgage rate at the start of this year.
The one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 4.15 percent this week, with an average 0.8 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.11 percent.
“Mixed economic indicators can push the market up or down, depending on the timing of the release, and that’s what we saw happen this week,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “The market seemed to focus on the positive, causing mortgage rates to inch up.
“That said, January housing starts were the highest in over 20 years, and that is based on higher rates than we are currently experiencing. All in all, the little run up in rates that occurred this week will not be enough to cause a significant slowdown in current housing market activity.”
The following is a sampling of Bankrate’s average 30-year-mortgage interest rates this week in some U.S. metropolitan areas.
New York – 5.66 percent with 0.14 point
Los Angeles – 5.67 percent with 0.49 point
Chicago – 5.68 percent with 0.04 point
San Francisco – 5.68 percent with 0.25 point
Philadelphia – 5.54 percent with 0.31 point
Detroit – 5.6 percent with 0.25 point
Boston – 5.7 percent with no points
Houston – 5.6 percent with 0.63 point
Dallas – 5.6 percent with 0.45 point
Washington, D.C. – 5.5 percent with 0.56 point
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