Freddie Mac Report: Mortgage Loan Rates Encouraging

ThinkstockIn its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, home lending giant Freddie Mac reported that mortgage rates for fixed-rate loans have fallen for the first time in seven weeks. The interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slipped from a prior…

Published June 20, 2013, 10:40am ET · 1 min read

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In its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, home lending giant Freddie Mac reported that mortgage rates for fixed-rate loans have fallen for the first time in seven weeks.

The interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slipped from a prior week average of 3.98% to 3.93%, still well above the rate of 3.66% in the same week a year ago.

One year ago the 15-year fixed-rate stood at 2.95%. That rate also dropped this week, from 3.1% last week to 3.04%.

The interest rate on a five-year Treasury adjustable-rate mortgage loan remained flat with the prior week at 2.79%, and it is slightly above the rate of 2.77% in the same week a year ago. The one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage loan interest rate fell from 2.58% to 2.57%, and it is up from 2.74% one year ago.

According to yesterday’s data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, new loan applications slipped 3.3% last week, as refinancings remained below 70% of all applications. Lower mortgage loan rates could lead to another uptick in refinancings, if this is the start of a trend toward lower rates.

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Paul Ausick

Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

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