Mortgage rates up slightly
Fixed interest rates on home loans crept back up a bit this week, mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday.
The government-controlled mortgage finance company said fixed rates on 30-year home loans averaged 4.92% with an additional 0.7% of the mortgage amount paid in upfront fees known as points. That was up from 4.87% the week before, when upfront costs also averaged 0.7%.
A year ago the average rate was 6.46%.
The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, a popular option for people who are refinancing and want to pay their loans off faster, was 4.37% this week with similar upfront fees, Freddie Mac said. That was up from 4.33% the week before and down from 6.14% a year ago.
Despite the uptick, it was the third straight week in which typical 30-year rates as determined by the Freddie Mac survey were below 5%.
A separate survey by the Mortgage Bankers Assn. this week found that the typical rate had edged back up to 5.02%. The group expects the interest rate to rise to 5.6% by the end of next year.
Mortgage professionals say the surveys are useful as indicators of price trends. However, not everyone should expect to obtain home loans at the rates in the surveys, which assume solid credit and 20% down payments.
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