News and Events
October 25, 2007
"Market Concerns" Take Mortgage Rates Lower
30- and 15-year loans
decline an average
8 basis points this week
'Market
concerns' take mortgage rates lower
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Inman News
Worries over slower economic growth helped push mortgage
rates lower this week, Freddie Mac reported today in its latest survey.
According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage
sank to an average 6.33 percent from last week's 6.4 percent, and the 15-year
fixed rate dropped to an average 5.99 percent from 6.08 percent. Points, which
are fees lenders charge for loan processing expressed as a percent of the loan,
averaged 0.5 and 0.6, respectively, on the 30- and 15-year loans.
Average rates on adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) also
declined this week, with the five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid ARM falling to
an average 6.03 percent from 6.11 percent and the one-year Treasury-indexed ARM
sinking to an average 5.66 percent from 5.76 percent. Points on the five-year
and one-year loans averaged 0.5 and 0.6, respectively.
"Market concerns about slower economic growth over the
next few months allowed mortgage rates to drift lower from last week,"
Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a
statement. "How much of a drag the housing slump will be on the economy
remains unknown."
Nothaft said that contributing to the concerns are
"recent reports that suggest some regional manufacturing weakness in
October," and Wednesday's news that "sales of existing single-family
homes in September dropped to the slowest pace in nearly a decade -- since
January 1998 -- reflecting the effects of the credit tightening that occurred
in August."
