Mortgage Rates Hold Steady at 4.5%
Mortgage rates changed little in the past week, snapping a streak of weekly declines that had taken fixed rates to the lowest points of 2011.
While the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate ticked up to 4.50% from 4.49% last week, still well below last year’s 4.75% average. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages ticked down to 3.67% from 3.68% the previous week and 4.20% a year earlier. .
Meantime, the Mortgage Bankers Association on Wednesday said the volume of mortgage applications jumped a seasonally adjusted 13% last week from the previous week. Refinancing activity jumped nearly 17%, according to the weekly survey.
In the latest week, five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 3.27% from 3.28% last week and 3.89% rate a year earlier.
To obtain the rates, fixed-rate borrowers required an average payment of 0.7 point. The five-year hybrid adjustable rate mortgages required a 0.6-point payment. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.
By John Skinner
