Industry News

Slight Drop In Mortgage Rates Seen As A Fluctuation, Not A Trend

August 19, 2005

Fixed-Rate Mortgage Rates Still Expected To Rise Gradually Over Time

McLean, VA – Freddie Mac's (NYSE:FRE) results of its Primary Mortgage Market SurveySM (PMMSSM) found that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.80 percent, with an average 0.5 point, for the week ending August 18, 2005, down from last week when it averaged 5.89 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.81 percent.

The average for the 15-year FRM this week is 5.40 percent, with an average 0.5 point, down from last week when it averaged 5.47 percent. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.19 percent.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.34 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 5.40 percent. There is no annual historical information for last year since Freddie Mac only began tracking this mortgage rate at the start of this year.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 4.58 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, up very slightly from last week when it averaged 4.57 percent. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 4.01 percent.

"Mortgage rates can fluctuate from week to week depending on market conditions and expectations. That is probably what happened this week," said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac. "Although economic indicators of late have been positive, they were not quite what the market had been expecting."

"Nonetheless, long-term mortgage rates are at about the same low level they were at this time last year. So it isn’t surprising that the housing industry continues to thrive. Home sales are strong and housing starts are up for the first seven months of the year over the same period last year."

Source: Freddie Mac

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