Mortgage Rates Hold Steady Throughout Week

Mortgage Rates Hold Steady Throughout Week
Mortgage rates for the 30 year fixed rate mortgage remained largely unchanged this week despite news that the US economy is facing a sharp downturn and pending home sales for the month of February were lower than anticipated.

According to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the average 30 year fixed rate mortgage remained at 5.88 percent while average fees charged on the loan dropped 0.1 percentage points to 0.4 percent. The average 15 year fixed mortgage rate rose 0.8 percent throughout the week to 5.42 percent.

Short term mortgage rates, also known as adjustable rate mortgages, experienced a decrease throughout the week with the 5 year arm decreasing 0.11 percent to 5.56 percent and the 1 year arm fell 0.06 percent to 5.18 percent.

Before pending home sales for the month of February were released, it was expected that they would show a slight improvement from the previous month. In actuality pending home sales fell 21 percent from where they were a year earlier to a seasonally adjusted index of 84.6.

Henry Paulson also state that the US economy has “turned down sharply” with housing being the biggest risk. Paulson also goes on to state that stimulus checks should be received by Americans in early to late May and believes that they will make a huge difference in the economy.

Submitted by admin 4/10/08