Mortgage rates nearly unchanged in week

WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- Interest rates for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages declined in the United States in the last week, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said Thursday.

The average 30-year fixed interest rate averaged 6.05 percent with an average 0.3 point on the week, compared with 6.06 percent for the previous week, Freddie Mac said.

A year ago, 30-year fixed rate mortgages averaged 6.21 percent.

At 5.6 percent with an average 0.3 point, the 15-year fixed rate average gained "very slightly" the report said, from the previous week's average of 5.59 percent.

"Despite a weak housing market, mortgage rates remained almost unchanged this week based on better-than-expected economic data releases that indicated the economy still has some staying power," Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft said.

With declining home values and tighter credit, "the housing market is still struggling," Nothaft said. But, he noted, the national home ownership rate did not fall in the first quarter of 2008, remaining at 67.8.

Nothaft noted that the home ownership rate peaked at 69 percent in the third quarter of 2006.