DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Mortgage rates fell again this week, but the average rate on
30-year fixed-rate mortgages remained above 5%, according to
Freddie Mac's (FRE) weekly survey of mortgage rates.
Mortgage rates had fallen earlier this year as providers try to
entice buyers amid the housing market downturn, but yields on
Treasurys jumped in the spring, helping push mortgage rates
higher.
Those yields have backtracked the past several weeks, with
Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft noting that helped the
30-year fixed rate fall to the lowest level in six weeks. The
latest rate declines were also due in part to market concerns about
a weakening labor market after the June jobs report.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.2% for the week ended
Thursday, down from last week's 5.32% average and 6.37% a year ago.
Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were 4.69%, down from 4.77%
last week and 5.91% a year earlier.
Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages
averaged 4.82%, down from 4.88% and 5.82%, respectively. One-year
Treasury-indexed ARMs were 4.82%, down from 4.94% and 5.17%,
respectively.
To obtain the rates, the fixed-rate mortgages required payment
of an average 0.7 point and the adjustable-rate mortgages required
an average 0.6 point. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged
as prepaid interest.
-By Kerry Grace Benn, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2353;
kerry.benn@dowjones.com