Long-term mortgage rates mixed in week

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Average interest rates for 30-year and 15-year mortgages were mixed in the week ending Feb. 3, the U.S. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said.

The average interest rate for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose from 4.8 percent to 4.81 percent with 0.8 points. Average interest rates for 15-year contracts dropped from 4.09 percent to 4.08 percent with 0.8 points, Freddie Mac said.

Rates for 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages a year ago stood at 4.4 percent. Rates for 30-year mortgages a year ago averaged 5.01 percent.

"Mortgage rates held relatively stable this week on news that the economy improved and inflation remained in check at the end of 2010," Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said.

Nothaft noted that the National Association of Realtors has said housing in the fourth quarter of 2010 was "the most affordable on record, according to figures ... which date back to 1971."