Mortgage Rates Edge Up

Date : 03/26/2010

Mortgage loan rates rose slightly this week, with the average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loans edging closer to 5%, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey.

Treasury yields ran up this week on concerns about the amount of government-debt sales and dislocations in the interest-rate swaps markets. Mortgage loan rates typically follow bond yields.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.99% for the week ended Thursday, up from last week's 4.96% average and 4.85% a year ago. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgage loans were 4.34%, up from 4.33% last week but down from 4.58% a year earlier.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage loans averaged 4.14%, rising from last week's 4.09% but falling from 4.98% a year earlier. One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs were 4.2%, compared with 4.12% and 4.85%, respectively.

To obtain the rates, the mortgage loans required payment of an average 0.6 point. A point is 1% of the mortgage loan amount, charged as prepaid interest.

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