Mortgage rates still hover near 65-year record lows

Rates stable week over week

Mortgage rates remained stable week-over-week, still hovering near 65-year record lows, Freddie Mac said in its most recent weekly mortgage report.

According to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ending March 7, three of four mortgage products surveyed saw little weekly movement.

The largest one-week change was seen with 5-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), which rose to an average of 2.63 percent after averaging 2.61 percent the previous week. Short-term 1-year ARMs averaged 2.63 percent in this latest data, down slightly from 2.64 percent one week earlier.

At this time last year, 5-year ARMs averaged 2.81 percent and 1-year ARMs averages 2.73 percent.

“With gross domestic product growing only 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, inflation remains at bay and consequently mortgage rates low,” Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac, said in a statement.”

Average rates for 30-year fixed mortgages rose slightly on a weekly basis from 3.51 percent to 3.52 percent, while 15-year fixed mortgages stayed even week-over-week at 2.76 percent.

One year ago at this time, 30-year fixed mortgages averaged 3.88 percent and 15-year fixed mortgages averaged 3.13 percent.

“[These] low mortgage rates are helping to revive the housing market,” Nothaft said. “For instance the CoreLogic home price index rose 9.7 percent between January 2012 and 2013, marking the largest annual increase since April 2006.”

See also: Weekly mortgage rates chart from 2012

Posted in: Mortgage, Mortgage Rates, Refinance, Refinance Rates

Mortgage News: This article was published on 3-13-2013 at 12:50 pm.

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