Mortgages

About 1 in 10 Californians with a home loan is now in default, and there's growing evidence that the mortgage meltdown is spreading to commercial real estate. The home mortgage delinquency rate -- the percentage of borrowers who have missed several payments and are in the first stage of foreclosure -- climbed in June to 9.5% in California and 9.9% in Los Angeles County, according to First American CoreLogic.

Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped for a third straight week to their lowest since the summer of 2005 as worries intensified about the current economic slowdown. Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.69% this week, down from 5.87% last week. Rates on 15-year mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, fell to 5.21% from 5.43%. Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages declined to 5.4% from 5.63%. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages dropped to 5.26% from 5.37%.

U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates averaged 5.72% this week, compared with 5.67% last week, and 15-year mortgages increased to 5.25% from 5.15%, mortgage company Freddie Mac said. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5%, down slightly from 5.03% last week. Lenders charged an average of 0.4% in fees and points on 30- and 15-year mortgages, unchanged from last week. Fees and points on the one-year ARM also averaged 0.4%, down from 0.5%.

The government Wednesday raised the maximum for mortgages in 14 high-cost California counties that could be guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration to $729,750 from $362,790. The temporary increases announced by the Department of Housing and Urban Development are part of a recently enacted economic stimulus package and are intended to let more homeowners with high-rate mortgages refinance into government-insured loans. The department is expected to raise FHA limits in other counties nationwide in the coming days.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.13% this week, up from 6.03% last week, according to Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage finance company. Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, rose to 5.60% from 5.47% last week. For five-year adjustable-rate mortgages, rates rose to 5.58% from 5.34%. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.14%, up from 4.94% last week. These rates do not include add-on fees known as points. For 30-year and 15-year mortgages, the nationwide average fee was 0.5 point, while five-year mortgages carried a 0.6-point average fee and one-year mortgages had a 0.7-point average.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.85% this week, down slightly from 5.87% last week and the second consecutive week below 6%. Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, rose to 5.34% from 5.27% last week. Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.67%, up from 5.56%. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.24%, up from 5.15% last week. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. For 30-year and 15-year mortgages, the nationwide average fee was 0.4 of a point.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.88% this week, up from 5.85% last week and the highest since the middle of March, mortgage company Freddie Mac said. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, rose to 5.42% from 5.34% last week. Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages dropped to 5.59% from 5.67% last week. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.19%, down from 5.24% last week. These rates don't include add-on fees known as points. For 30-year and 15-year mortgages as well as one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, the nationwide average fee was 0.5 of a point.

Falling home prices and tighter lending standards are preventing more homeowners from pulling money out of their homes, Freddie Mac said. In the first three months of the year, 56% of homeowners refinanced their mortgages and "cashed out" at least 5% of their equity. That's a four-year low, and down from the peak in mid-2006 of 88% of homeowners, according to the McLean, Va.-based mortgage finance company. From January through March, Freddie Mac said borrowers cashed out $29 billion in home equity, down more than 19% from $36 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.08% this week, up from 5.98% last week and the highest level in 11 weeks, mortgage company Freddie Mac said. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.66%, up from 5.55%. The five-year adjustable-rate mortgage edged up to 5.62% from 5.61%. A one-year ARM edged down slightly to 5.22% from 5.24% last week. These rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide average fee for 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages was 0.6 point.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.32% this week, up sharply from 6.09% last week and the highest since they averaged 6.33% in the week of Oct. 25. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.93%, up from 5.65% last week. The five-year adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 5.70%, up from 5.51%. The rate on a one-year adjustable mortgage edged up to 5.09% from 5.06%. These rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for 30-year and five-year mortgages averaged 0.7 of a point.