Mortgage rates creep higher in latest week

NEW YORK — Mortgage rates edged up this week, but even 30-year fixed rates below 5% have done little to boost home sales.

Freddie Mac said, Thursday that the average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages rose to 4.81% from 4.76% the previous week. It hit a 40-year low 4.17% in November.

The average rate on 15-year fixed mortgages increased to 4.04% from 3.97%. It reached 3.57% in November, lowest level on records dating back to 1991.

Mortgage rates tend to track the yield on 10-year Treasury notes, which rose this week.

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MORE: New-home sales plunge

Still, low rates haven’t helped the weak housing market. In February, sales of previously occupied homes fell 9.6% and new-home sales tumbled to the slowest pace in nearly a half-century.

High unemployment, a record number of foreclosures and tight lending standards have kept people from making purchases. Other would-be buyers are waiting for home prices to bottom out, which most economists predict won’t happen until midyear.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac collects rates from lenders across the country Monday through Wednesday each week. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a day.

The average rate on a five-year adjustable mortgage rose to 3.62% from 3.57%. The five-year hit 3.25% last month, lowest rate on records dating back to January 2005.

The average rate on one-year adjustable-rate home loans increased to 3.21% from 3.17%, which was the lowest level in a year for the one-year ARM.

The rates do not include add-on fees, known as points. One point is equal to 1% of the total loan amount. The average fee for 30-year fixed loans and 15-year fixed loans in Freddie Mac’s survey was 0.7 point. The average fee for five-year ARMs and 1-year ARMs was 0.6 point.


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