Rates for fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) inched higher during the week ending Feb. 27, while rates for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) declined slightly, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The average rate for a 30-year FRM was 4.37%, up about 0.7 percentage points compared to the previous week, when it averaged 4.33%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.51%.
The average rate for a 15-year FRM was 3.39%, also up about 0.7 percentage points, compared to the previous week when it averaged 3.35%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.76%.
It was the fourth consecutive week that fixed mortgage rates inched higher.
ARMs, meanwhile, have been inching downward. The average rate for a five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid ARM was 3.05%, down about 0.5 percentage points from the week prior, when it averaged 3.08%. A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 2.61%.
The average rate for a one-year Treasury-indexed ARM was 2.52%, up about 0.4 percentage points from the previous week, when it averaged 2.57%. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 2.64%.
All rates are based on closings.
‘Mortgage rates edged up with new home sales exceeding expectations and rising to a seasonally adjusted pace of 468,000 units in January, the strongest annual rate since July 2008,’ says Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac, in a statement. ‘The 9.6 percent increase in new home sales for January followed an upward revision of 13,000 units in December. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite house price index rose 13.4 percent over the 12-months ending in December 2013.’