Long-Term Mortgage Rates Now Over 5%, Says Freddie Mac

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(MCLEAN, VA) -- According to Freddie Mac's (NYSE:FRE) newly released Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending December 24, 2009, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.05 percent. This is up from last week when the average long-term rate was 4.94 percent.

The 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.45 percent with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.38 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.91 percent.

The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 4.40 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.37 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 5.49 percent.

The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 4.38 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.34 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 4.95 percent.  

"Although interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are above 5 percent this week for the first time since the end of October, they are still around 0.5 percentage points below this year's peak set in mid-June," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "ARM rates increased by a lesser amount as the market consensus calls for no rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in the immediate future.

"Meanwhile, the housing market continues to show improvement. Total existing home sales jumped 7.4 percent in November to an annualized pace of 6.54 million units, which was the most since February 2007. Moreover, the number of unsold existing homes was the lowest since December 2006 and the number of unsold new homes was the least since April 1971, which may leave future room for new construction."

Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and more than five million renters.

Summary of Survey Results



Freddie Mac defines its regions as follows:

Northeast: NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT
Southeast: NC, SC, TN, KY, GA, AL, FL, MS, PR, VI
North Central: OH, IN, IL, MI, WI, MN, IA, ND, SD
Southwest: TX, LA, NM, OK, AR, MO, KS, CO, NE, WY
West: CA, AZ, NV, OR, WA, UT, ID, MT, HI, AK, GU

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