Mortgage Rates Relatively Unchanged
October 25, 2012
Fixed mortgage rates moved slightly higher while continuing to remain near their all-time lows helping to support the housing market, according to the latest Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.41 percent with an average .7 point for the week ending Oct. 25, up from last week when it averaged 3.37 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.10 percent.
"Mortgage rates remained relatively unchanged this week and should continue to support the housing market and mortgage refinance,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac. “Existing home sales in September eased slightly to 4.75 million but was the second strongest annualized pace since May 2010. Moreover, new home sales rose to the most since April 2010. In addition, low rates and strong demand have already pushed the FHFA purchase-only home price index in August to its highest since June 2010. And not surprisingly, the Federal Reserve in its October 24th monetary policy announcement acknowledged the further signs of improvement in the housing sector, albeit from a depressed level."
Meanwhile, the 15-year FRM this week averaged 2.72 percent with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.66 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.38 percent.
The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.75 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, the same as last week. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.08 percent.
The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.59 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.6 percent last week. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 2.9 percent.
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