Mortgage Rates Inch Up After Posting Record Lows

Improving housing data and higher Treasury bond yields moved rates higher for the week, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. After setting all-time lows last week, rates bumped up slightly for the week--the exception being the 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage, which dropped this week to reach a new record low.

Here’s a closer look at rates for the week:

30-year fixed-rate mortgages: Averaged 4.22 percent, up from last week’s record low of 4.15 percent. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 4.36 percent.
15-year fixed-rate mortgages: Averaged 3.44 percent, up from last week’s 3.36 percent average.A year ago at this time, 15-year rates averaged 3.86 percent.
5-year ARMs: Averaged 3.07 percent this week--a new all-time low. It was down from last week’s 3.08 percent average. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.56 percent.
1-year ARMs: Averaged 2.93 percent this week, up from last week’s 2.86 percent average. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 3.52 percent.
Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac, attributed the overall rise in rates to signs this week of an improving housing market. He noted that the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s national House Price Index reported a rise for the third straight month in June. Also, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported this week that the serious delinquency rate (90 days or more plus foreclosures) on mortgages outstanding fell for the sixth consecutive quarter at the end of June to 7.85 percent.

Source: “Mortgage Rates Follow Bond Yields Higher for the Week,” Freddie Mac (Aug. 25, 2011)