Mortgage Rate Trend Index

The mortgage industry experts polled by Bankrate.com last week (March 29-April 4) said don’t rush to lock because mortgage rates probably aren’t going anywhere over the next 30 to 45 days. Half of the panelists (50 percent) think rates will stay about the same; 29 percent think mortgage rates likely will fall, while 21 percent think they will rise.

WASHINGTON – April 9, 2007 – Mortgage rates around the country crept up last week, although rates on 30-year mortgages still hovered close to their low for the year.
In its weekly survey, mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported last Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.17 percent for the week ending April 5.
That was up slightly from 6.16 percent the previous week. Even with the uptick, it was near the low for this year of 6.14 percent, set during the first two weeks of March.
Analysts said mortgage rates have been fairly stable in recent weeks as financial markets – which directly influence these rates – try to figure out the direction of the country’s economic growth as well as inflation.
“Mortgage rates have remained within a narrow band of 0.1 percentage points over every week in March,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “This relative stability is due to mixed economic data releases as to how strong the economy is and whether future inflation will recede,” he explained.
Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, rose to 5.87 percent last week, up a notch from the previous week’s 5.86 percent.
Five-year adjustable rate mortgages averaged 5.92 percent, compared with 5.88 percent the previous week. One-year adjustable mortgages edged up to 5.44 percent; the previous week, they averaged 5.43 percent.
The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. Thirty-year mortgages carried a nationwide average fee of 0.4 point. Fifteen-year mortgages had an average fee of 0.5 point. Five-year and one-year adjustable mortgages each carried an average fee of 0.6 point.
A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 6.43 percent, while 15-year mortgages were at 6.10 percent. Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 6.11 percent and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages were at 5.57 percent.