Mortgage Rates Mixed This Week, 30-Year Fixed Rises -Freddie Mac

   DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

Mortgage rates were mixed this week as the average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose further 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 have jumped the past month, helping push mortgage rates higher. Freddie chief economist Frank Nothaft said mixed economic reports on the state of the housing market helped hold rates basically flat this week.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.42% for the week ended Thursday, up from last week's 5.38% average and down from 6.45% a year ago. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were 4.87%, down from 4.89% and 6.04%, respectively.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.99%, up from 4.97% last week and well below their 5.99% average a year ago. One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs were 4.93%, down from 4.95% and 5.27%, respectively.

To obtain the rates, all the mortgages and required payment of an average 0.7 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]