Fixed Rate Mortgages

However, interest rates on the most popular form of adjustable-rate mortgages edged up slightly, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board said. Conventional fixed-rate mortgages averaged 10.85% in early August, down from 10.96% the month before, the FHLBB reported. A year ago, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 12.62%. Rates for the most common type of adjustable-rate mortgage, one that has a cap on how much rates can increase, rose slightly in early August to 9.43% from 9.41% in July.

The Treasury Department has sold the last of $225 billion in mortgage-backed securities it began buying during the financial crisis and announced the program designed to keep the housing finance market afloat made a $25 billion profit. The purchases of bonds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac started in October 2008 and continued through December 2009 as part of a series of unprecedented government interventions into the financial system. “The successful sale of these securities marks another important milestone in the wind down of the government's emergency financial crisis response efforts,” said Mary Miller, the Treasury's assistant secretary for financial markets, on Monday.

The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 7.08%, up from 6.87% the previous week, Freddie Mac said. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, rose to 6.59%, up from 6.37% the week before. On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.08%, up from 5.07% the previous week. Last year this time, one-year ARMs averaged 6.29%. These rates do not include add-on fees known as points, which averaged around 0.

Will the move to dismantle Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mean the end of the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage as we have come to know it? Many housing proponents say that it will. Without the government's backing, they contend that the 30-year mortgage will become a relic of a bygone era when mortgage money was cheap and easy to come by. But others say America's most popular home loan will still be available — if you can afford it. Before digging deeper into the debate, a short primer: Although the long-term fixed-rate mortgage was born with the Federal Housing Administration — the government agency established in 1934 to help stabilize the then-shaky housing market — it was taken to its greatest heights by Fannie and Freddie, the two government-chartered institutions that were created years later to keep the money flowing for home loans.

The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages edged down to 7.52% this week, marking the third straight weekly decline. The average was down from 7.58% last week, according to a weekly survey by Freddie Mac, the mortgage company. Mortgage rates, however, had been creeping up for the last two months. So far this year, they have varied from a low of 6.74% at the end of January to a high of 7.71% at the beginning of this month.

Fixed-rate mortgages averaged 8.70% last week, up from 8.63% the week before, according to a national survey released Friday by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. It was the highest rate in three weeks. On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 6.34%.

Mortgage rates creep higher this week but the average cost of the mainstay 30-year fixed-rate home loan remains under 5% a year, Freddie Mac reports. Mortgage rates crept higher this week but the average cost of the mainstay 30-year fixed-rate home loan remained under 5% a year, Freddie Mac reported. The government-controlled housing finance firm said 30-year rates offered by lenders averaged 4.86%, up from 4.81% last week and 4.76% the week prior. The rate briefly topped 5% in February.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage zoomed past 5% this week, reaching the highest level in nine months. Home-loan rates have been surging since November, tracking yields on Treasury bonds, as the economy has shown increasing signs of strength. This week, lenders have been offering 30-year fixed-rate home loans at an average of 5.05% to low-risk borrowers willing to pay an upfront fee equal to 0.7% of the loan balance, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The rate was up from a record low 4.17% in November ?

After years of virtual exile from the home loan arena, is the adjustable-rate mortgage staging a quiet comeback? Could an ARM be on your shopping list the next time you need to buy a house or refinance? You might be surprised. A new survey of 112 lenders by mortgage giant Freddie Mac found that ARMs are starting to attract applicants again. Adjustables accounted for just 3% of new home loans in early 2009 but are projected to be picked by nearly 1 out of 10 borrowers in 2011.

Should you shorten the term of your mortgage? Today's low rates have millions of homeowners rushing to refinance. However, a large number of mortgage owners in the U.S. are switching from the old industry standard of 30-year fixed-rate loans to those that must be paid off in 15 or 20 years, said Jeff Lazerson, president of the online brokerage Mortgage Grader. Lazerson estimates that between 40% and 50% of his customers have been choosing shorter-term loans in recent months.

Interest rates on home mortgages edged higher this week, bouncing off record lows, but fixed-rate loans are still averaging well below 5% for those who are coming out of the recession with solid credit and can muster 20% down. Those lucky borrowers were getting 30-year fixed loans at an average of 4.81% for the week ending Thursday, according to Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage buyer and guarantor. On those loans, the borrowers were paying 0.7% of the loan amount in upfront lender fees including so-called points.

The average interest rate on traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell back below 5% this week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The mortgage giant's statement was based on its survey of lenders, the second such industry survey in two days to show the rate below 5%, which has become a psychological trigger for homeowners refinancing mortgages. A Mortgage Bankers Assn. report Wednesday said applications to refinance home loans jumped last week as the average home-loan rate dropped under 5%. Freddie Mac's survey, conducted Monday through Wednesday, showed borrowers with good credit and a 20% equity stake in their home got 30-year loans of $417,000 or less at an average fixed rate of 4.98%.

Mortgage rates continued to drift higher this week, according to the latest survey from Freddie Mac, which reported Thursday that the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan was 5.03%. That was up from a flat 5% a week earlier and from an all-time low of 4.87% in the week that ended Oct. 8. The surveys assumed that borrowers with good credit were making a down payment of at least 20%. Borrowers this month have paid on average 0.7% of the loan amount in upfront charges. Rates on shorter-term fixed-rate mortgages and adjustable-rate loans also rose.

Rates on 30-year mortgages plunged to a record low Thursday after the Federal Reserve launched a new effort to prop up the flailing housing market. The national average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages was 4.94% on Thursday, according to financial publisher HSH Associates, down nearly a quarter point from a day earlier. That's the lowest on HSH's records, which date to 1979. For borrowers with stable jobs and good credit, it represents an opportunity to refinance at the lowest rates in decades.