Mortgage rates rose for the fourth consecutive week, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market survey released Thursday.
Frank Nothaft, chief economist at the government-sponsored entity, said rates followed suit behind bond yields, which increased during the week due to more investment. He said investment spawned from stabilization in Europe’s debt situation.
Freddie Mac reported the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage at 4.61% for the week ending Dec. 9, up from 4.46% the week previous. The current rate is almost level with one year ago when the rate was 4.81%.
The 15-year FRM averaged 3.96% with a 0.7 origination point, up from 3.81% last week, but down from the 4.32% fixed-rate set one year ago.
Adjustable-rate mortgage rates also increased week-over-week. The rate for a 5-year Treasury-indexed, hybrid ARM hit 3.6%, up from 3.49% the week prior. The rate for a 1-year ARM averaged 3.27%, up from 3.25% the previous week. The rates one year ago for each of these types of mortgages were 4.26% and 4.24%, respectively.
A separate survey from Bankrate.com showed mortgage rates climbed to a six-month high. The 30-year FRM increased 18 basis points to 4.89%, according to the survey by the personal finance website. The 15-year FRM climbed 19 bps to 4.26%, and the 5/1 ARM increased 11 bps to 3.85%, and the 30-year fixed jumbo mortgage rate increased 10 bps to 5.39%.
