The Wall Street Journal

28 July  2011

Mortgage rates in the U.S. were again little changed over the past week, as readings on the U.S. economy continued to show mixed signals, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of mortgage rates.

“Macroeconomic data released this week were a mixed bag,” said Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft. “On the positive side, the index of leading indicators in June rose for the second consecutive month, beating the market consensus forecast. Partly offsetting this, orders for durable goods were weaker than market expectations for the same month.”

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.55% for the week ended Thursday, up from 4.52% the previous week and last year’s rate of 4.54%. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.66%, flat from last week though down from 4% a year earlier.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.25%, down from 3.27% last week and 3.76% a year ago. One-year Treasury-indexed ARM rates averaged 2.95%, down from 2.97% in the prior week and 3.64% in the prior year.

To obtain the rates, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages required an average payment of 0.8 point, while 15-year fixed rates required an average 0.7 point payment. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest. Five-year adjustable rate mortgages required an average 0.6-point payment, while one-year adjustable rates required an average 0.5 point payment.