Rates Rise

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose from 6.44% to 6.47% over the seven-day period ended Sept. 7, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate rose from 6.14% to 6.16%, the average rate for five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages climbed from 6.11% to 6.14%, and the average rate for one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs increased from 5.59% to 5.63%, Freddie Mac reported. Fees and points averaged 0.4 of a point for fixed-rate mortgages, 0.5 of a point for hybrid ARMs, and 0.7 of a point for one-year ARMs. "We expect that mortgage rates will continue to fluctuate as new economic data are released, but still remain in the 6.5% to 7.0% range for the rest of the year," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "Slowly rising mortgage rates are offset in part by a slowdown in house price appreciation." A year ago, the average 30-year and 15-year fixed rates were 5.71% and 5.30%, respectively, and the average hybrid and one-year ARM rates were 5.24% and 4.45%, respectively, Freddie Mac said. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.