U.S. Mortgage Rates Flat This Week

The U.S. mortgage rates held steady basically this week, said the Primary Mortgage Market Survey released Thursday by Freddie Mac.

Freddie Mac said that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) rose slightly to 4.88 percent for the week ending March 10, 2011, up from last week when it averaged 4.87 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.95 percent.

The 15-year FRM this week was 4.15 percent, the same from the previous week' s figure. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.32 percent.

The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.73 percent, up from the prior week' s 3.72 percent, the company said.

Moreover, the 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.21 percent this week, down from last week when it averaged 3.23 percent.

"Mortgage rates held steady amid a strong employment report. The private sector added 222,000 jobs in February, the most since March 2006 while the unemployment rate fell to 8.9 percent, the lowest share since April 2009," said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac.

"Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have averaged at or below 5 percent in every week but one this year, contributing to record home affordability."

Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders.

Source: Copyright Xinhua News Agency - CEIS 2011