Rates on 30-year-fixed mortgages rose this week amid reports showing a worse-than-expected plunge in the nation’s gross domestic product and continuing elevated levels of jobless claims, Freddie Mac said today.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage increased to 5.15 percent this week from 5.07 percent last week. A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.03 percent.
Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft said mortgage rates followed a rise in bond yields after the Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product plunged in the fourth quarter of 2008 at an annual rate of 6.2 percent, the worst showing in a quarter-century. Â
“The housing market continues to slow as well,” Nothaft said, noting that new home sales fell 10.2 percent in January to the slowest pace since records began in January 1963.
Pending existing home sales slowed by 7.7 percent, he added.
Average rates for 30-year-fixed-rate mortgages hit a record low of 4.96 percent in January, a decline attributed to the Federal Reserve’s move to buy $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities to spur lending by banks.
This week’s average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.72 percent from 4.68 percent last week. Last year at this time, the 15-year rate averaged 5.47 percent.
Average rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages increased to 5.08 percent from 5.06 percent last week. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 4.86 percent from 4.81 percent last week.
The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee averaged 0.7 point for 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages. The fee for five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 0.6 point and 0.5 point for one-year adjustable-rate mortgages.
Mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were seized by the federal government in September 2008, own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans worth about $5.5 trillion. That’s more than half of all U.S home mortgages. (AP)