Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey said that was up from last week, when it averaged 4.38 percent. Last year at this time it averaged 5.14 percent.
The survey said the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, or FRM, averaged 4.45 percent with 0.6 point. That was up from last week when it averaged 4.38 percent.
A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.91 percent.
The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM, averaged 4.40 percent for this week, with an average 0.6 point. The survey indicated that was up from last week when it averaged 4.37 percent.
A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 5.49 percent, Freddie Mac's survey showed.
The survey said the 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 4.38 percent this week with 0.6 point, up from
last week when it averaged 4.34 percent.
At the same time last year, the survey said, the 1-year ARM averaged 4.95 percent.
"Although interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are above 5 percent this week for the first time
since the end of October, they are still around 0.5 percentage points below this year's peak set in mid-
June," Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a statement. "ARM rates increased by a lesser amount as the market consensus calls for no rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in the immediate future.
"Meanwhile, the housing market continues to show improvement," he added. "Total existing home sales jumped 7.4 percent in November to an annualized pace of 6.54 million units, which was the most since February 2007."
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
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