Mortgage interest rates rose by three basis points
The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgage loan was 3.66% with the increase attributed to positive home sales reports, said Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac's deputy chief economist, in a press release issued Thursday morning.
"New home sales surged 11.6% in December beating market expectations. Likewise, existing home sales rose 2.4% to an annual rate of 5.04 million homes in December," Kiefer said.
At this time last year, the average rate on the 30-year FRM was 4.32%.
The 15-year FRM increased by five basis points over last week to 2.98%, the 5/1 hybrid Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage is up three basis points to 2.86% and the one-year Treasury-indexed ARM is at 2.98%, an increase of one basis point.