Rates Rise

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose from 6.59% to 6.62% for the seven-day period ended Aug. 16, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate rose from 6.25% to 6.30%, the average rate for five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages climbed from 6.33% to 6.35%, and the average rate for one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs rose from 5.65% to 5.67%, Freddie Mac reported. Fees and points averaged 0.4 of a point for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, 0.5 of a point for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages and hybrid ARMs, and 0.6 of a point for one-year ARMs. "Interest rates on prime conforming fixed-rate mortgages ticked up a little in the past week, in line with 10-year Treasury rate movements and retracing part of last week's decline," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "Problems in the nonprime mortgage market where funds are expensive and hard to get have not affected the prime conforming market." A year ago, the average 30-year and 15-year fixed rates were 6.52% and 6.20%, respectively, and the average hybrid and one-year ARM rates were 6.18% and 5.65%, Freddie Mac said. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.