The average for the 15-year FRM this week is 5.71 percent, with an average 0.6 point, down slightly from last week’s average of 5.76 percent. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.19 percent.
Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.76 percent this week, with an average 0.5 point, down very slightly from last week when it averaged 5.78 percent. A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 5.05 percent.
One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.15 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, down very slightly from last week when it averaged 5.16 percent. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 4.10 percent, Freddie Mac also reported.
“Interest rates for long-term mortgages slipped lower this week due to some economic data releases that pointed towards more subdued inflation in the near term,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, in a statement. “Rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are about the same as they were in late October of 2005. However, shorter-term rates, such as those for adjustable-rate mortgages, were basically unchanged due to market expectations of another rate hike by the Federal Reserve Board at the end of January.
“Our January forecast calls for a gradual rise in long-term rates throughout 2006, ending the year at about 6.5 percent for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, while relative rate differences with adjustable-rate mortgages will narrow. This should induce some slowing in housing market activity, but we expect the housing market in 2006 to be strong, nonetheless.”
Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned company established by Congress in 1970 to support homeownership and rental housing. The entity purchases residential mortgages and mortgage-related securities, which it finances primarily by issuing mortgage-related securities and debt instruments in the capital markets.
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