The Truth About Mortgage.com

After falling for five consecutive weeks, mortgage rates reversed course and erased much of their recent progress, mortgage financier Freddie Mac said today.

The traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped to 6.09 percent for the week ending September 25, up from 5.78 percent last week, but still below the 6.42 percent it averaged a year earlier.

“Mortgage rates followed Treasury bond yields higher this week amid market uncertainty over the current state of the economy,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac chief economist.

“Compared with last Thursday, 10-year Treasury yields are up about 0.3 percentage points, and 30-year fixed-rate loans moved up about the same amount,” Nothaft said.  “And while up, interest rates for 30-year [mortgages] are still more than 0.5 percentage points below this year’s peak of 6.63% set the week of July 24.”

The 15-year fixed averaged 5.77 percent this week, up from 5.35 percent last week, but still below it’s year-ago average of 6.09 percent.

Adjustable-rate mortgages weren’t exempt from the upward pressure either, with the average five-year ARM jumping to 6.02 percent from 5.67 percent, slightly below the 6.15 percent it averaged this time last year.

The one-year ARM averaged 5.16 percent, up from 5.03 percent last week, and nearly half a point better than the 5.60 percent level seen a year ago.

Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey uses data from conforming mortgages at a loan-to-value of 80 percent.

Jumbo mortgages are pricing significantly higher, above 9 percent for a 30-year fixed at Wells Fargo.

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