Rates Climb

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose from 5.56% to 5.63% over the seven-day period ending June 16, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate increased from 5.14% to 5.22%, the average rate for five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages rose from 5.01% to 5.10%, and the average rate for one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs climbed from 4.21% to 4.25%. Fees and points averaged 0.5 of a point for fixed-rate mortgages and five-year hybrid ARMs and 0.7 of a point for one-year ARMs. "Although the 30-year mortgage rate ticked up this week, which wasn't completely unexpected, it is still below last year's annual average and well below where it was at this time last year," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "Driven by low mortgage rates, recently released single-family housing starts for May continued to advance." A year ago, the average 30-year and 15-year fixed rates were 6.32% and 5.70%, respectively, and the average one-year ARM rate was 4.13%, Freddie Mac said. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.