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Mortgage Rates
Rates on 30-year mortgages rise,
other rates mixed
By JEANNINE AVERSA
AP Economics Writer
Jul 10, 3:24 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP)
-- Rates on 30-year mortgages edged up this week, while rates on
other home loans were a mixed bag.
Freddie Mac, the
mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year fixed-rate
mortgages averaged 6.37 percent this week. That was up from 6.35
percent last week.
Rates on 15-year
fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, dipped to
5.91 percent this week, compared with 5.92 percent last week.
Meanwhile,
five-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.82 percent this week,
up from 5.78 percent last week. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate
mortgages held steady at 5.17 percent, unchanged from the previous
week.
Earlier this
week, there were fresh signs that the painful housing slump was
likely to drag on. The National Association of Realtors' pending
home sales index slipped 4.7 percent in May to the third-lowest
reading on record.
"Pending home
sales fell more than expected," said Freddie Mac's chief economist
Frank Nothaft.
Home
foreclosures have hit record highs as sagging home values have left
some borrowers owning more on their mortgages than their homes are
worth. With more empty homes being dumped on an already glutted
market, prices are being pulled lower. Buyers, however, have become
harder to find as credit has gotten harder to secure.
Congress is
moving ahead on a package to help distressed homeowners. It would
allow the Federal Housing Administration to provide them with more
affordable, fixed-rate mortgages.
The mortgage
rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee
for 30-year, 15-year and five-year mortgages all averaged 0.6 point
this week. The fee on one-year mortgages averaged 0.5 point.
A year ago,
rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 6.73 percent, 15-year mortgage
rates averaged 6.39 percent, five-year adjustable-rate mortgages
were at 6.35 percent and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged
5.71 percent.
On the Net: Freddie Mac:
http://www.freddiemac.com
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