Saturday, July 25, 2009

Mortgage rates rise after falling for 3 weeks

Rates for 30-year mortgages have edged up after falling for three-consecutive weeks.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage this week was 5.3 percent, up from 5.14 percent a week earlier.

Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a record low of 4.78 percent earlier this year, but then rose to nearly 5.6 percent last month after yields on long-term government debt, which are closely tied to mortgage rates, climbed.

Though the troubled U.S. housing market is beginning to stabilize, higher rates could threaten or slow down any recovery, since prospective buyers would be able to borrow less money and might decide to hold off on their purchases.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.68 percent, up from 4.63 percent last week, according to a Freddie Mac survey.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.74 percent, down from 4.83 percent a week earlier. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages edged up to 4.77 percent from 4.76 percent.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee averaged 0.7 point for all loans in Freddie Mac’s survey except for one-year adjustable rate mortgages, which averaged a fee of 0.6 percent.

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