Mortgage Rates Fall This Week, 30-Year Fixed At 5.32% -Freddie

   DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

Mortgage rates fell this week, though the average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages remained above 5%, according to Freddie Mac's (FRE) weekly survey of mortgage rates.

Mortgage rates had fallen earlier this year as providers try to entice buyers amid the housing market downturn, but yields on Treasurys moved higher in recent months, helping bring mortgage rates along with them.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.32% for the week ended Thursday, down from last week's 5.42% average and 6.35% a year ago. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were 4.77%, down from 4.87% last week and 5.92% a year earlier.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.88%, down from 4.99% last week and well below their 5.78% average a year ago. One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs were 4.94%, up from 4.93% last week but down from 4.17%% last year.

To obtain the rates, the fixed-rate mortgages and the five-year ARM required payment of an average 0.7 point and the one-year ARM required an average 0.6 point. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.

-By Kerry E. Grace, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5089; [e-mail]