After falling slightly the week prior, fixed mortgage rates edged up again during the week ending March 13, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) was 4.37%, up about 0.6 percentage points from the previous week, when it averaged 4.28%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.63%.
The average rate for a 15-year FRM was 3.38%, also up about 0.6 percentage points from the previous week, when it averaged 3.32%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.79%.
The average rate for a five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 3.09%, up about 0.4 percentage points from the previous week, when it averaged 3.03%. A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 2.61%.
The average rate for a one-year Treasury-indexed ARM was 2.48%, down about 0.4 percentage points from the previous week, when it averaged 2.52%. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 2.64%.
‘Mortgage rates edged up amid a week of light economic reports,’ says Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac, in a release. ‘Of the few releases, the economy added 175,000 jobs in February, which was above the market consensus forecast and followed an upward revision of 25,000 jobs for the prior two months. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate nudged up to 6.7 percent, the first rate increase in over a year.’