Rates Bounce Back

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose from 5.48% to 5.68% over the seven-day period ended Jan. 31, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate rose from 4.95% to 5.17%, the average rate for five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages climbed from 5.13% to 5.32%, and the average rate for one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs increased from 4.99% to 5.05%, Freddie Mac reported. Fees and points averaged 0.4 of a point for fixed-rate mortgages and hybrid ARMs and 0.7 of a point for one-year ARMs. "Mortgage rates ended their five-week descent this week, with average 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages coming up by about 0.2 percentage points," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "This increase completely erased the previous week's decline. The movement in fixed mortgage rates was broadly consistent with the movements of Treasury bonds over the week." A year ago, the average 30-year and 15-year fixed rates were 6.34% and 6.06%, respectively, and the average hybrid and one-year ARM rates were 6.04% and 5.54%, Freddie Mac said. Freddie can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.