Mortgage Rates Rise off Record Lows

After reaching record lows last week, mortgage rates increased in two weekly surveys. Freddie Mac’s (FRE) survey put the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) at 4.81% with an average 0.7 point for the week ending Dec. 10, up from the previous week when it was a record low average of 4.71%. A year ago, Freddie Mac put the 30-year FRM at 5.47%. Bankrate.com’s survey of major banks and thrifts put the 30-year FRM at 5.04% with a 0.43 point, up from 5.01% the previous week. Freddie said the 15-year FRM also increased, from 4.27% last week to 4.32% with a 0.6 point this week. A year ago, it was 5.2%. Bankrate.com put the 15-year FRM average rate at 4.47%, up from last week’s 4.46%. The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 4.26% with an average 0.5 point, up from last week’s rate of 4.19%, Freddie Mac said. The one-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 4.24 percent this week with an average 0.7 point, down slightly from last week when it averaged 4.25%. Bankrate.com put the five-year ARM at 4.55%, up from 4.52% a week ago. “Following an upbeat employment report, long-term bond yields rose slightly and fixed mortgage rates followed,” said Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft. “[R]ates on 30-year fixed mortgages are almost 0.7 percentage points below those at the same time last year. This translates into an $81 lower monthly payment on a $200,000 conventional mortgage.” Write to Austin Kilgore.

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