Average fixed mortgage rates up slightly for the second week in a row, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
“Mortgage rates crept up further following the uptick in the 10-year Treasury yield as minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting indicated little possibility of a pause in the central bank’s reduction of bond purchases,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac.
“Housing starts in January fell 16% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 888,000 units, below consensus forecast,” Nothaft added. “Permits were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 937,000 in January, also below consensus.”
30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.33% with an average 0.7 point for the week ending February 20, 2014, up from last week when it averaged 4.28%.
A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.56%.
15-year FRM this week averaged 3.35% with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.33%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.77%.
5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.08% this week with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.05%. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.64%.