Mortgage rates creep back up

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Bouncing off record lows, the average interest paid on home loans edged higher this week although fixed rates are still well under 5% for those who have escaped the recession with solid credit and can muster 20% down.

Freddie Mac, the government-backed buyer and guarantor of residential mortgages, said those lucky borrowers were getting 30-year fixed loans at an average 4.81% for the week ending today after paying 0.7% of the loan balance in upfront lender fees and discounts points. The average rate for a 15-year fixed loan averaged 4.32% with 0.6 % in fees and points.

During the previous week, 30-year rates averaged 4.71%, an all-time low for the Freddie survey. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.47%, Freddie said in a news release this morning.

Freddie Mac economist Frank Nothaft said an upbeat report on unemployment had pushed long-term bond yields higher and mortgage rates followed, as they generally do.

Nothaft noted that with 30-year fixed rates almost 0.7 percentage points lower than at the same time last year, someone signing up for a $400,000 conventional mortgage would pay $162 less per month now compared to then.

-- E. Scott Reckard