Fixed Mortgage Rates Rise Only Slightly

The Federal Reserve isn’t the only financial entity in a holding pattern, as mortgage rates sat tight for the most part this week amid speculation over the role inflation will play in coming month. According to Freddie Mac‘s (FRE) weekly primary mortgage market survey, released Thursday morning, average rates on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage were at 6.45 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending June 26, 2008. That’s up slighly from one week earlier, when rates averaged 6.42 percent, and the highest since late August of last year. “Fixed-rate mortgage rates held relatively stable this week leading up to the June 24-25 Federal Reserve Policy Committee meeting,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “ARM rates, which are typically tied to short-term instruments, rose slightly due to market uncertainty over how the Fed might respond.” Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.99 percent this week, up 10 basis points from last week’s 5.89 percent average; one year ARMs saw rates jump 8 basis points to an average of 5.27 percent. For more information, visit http://www.freddiemac.com. Disclosure: The author held no positions in FRE when this story was originally published. HW reporters and writers follow a strict disclosure policy, the first in the mortgage trade.