WASHINGTON, March 31 (UPI) -- Average interest rates for 30-year and 15-year mortgages rose in the week ending March 31, the U.S. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said Thursday.
Average rates for 15-year fixed rate loans rose from 4.04 percent to 4.09 percent with 0.7 points, while rates for 30-year mortgages rose from 4.81 percent to 4.86 percent with 0.7 points, Freddie Mac said.
Rates for 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages a year ago stood at 4.39 percent. Rates for 30-year mortgages a year ago averaged 5.08 percent.
Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's vice president and chief economist, said mortgage rates "rose for a second week in a row, but continued to remain quite low."
Low interest rates are holding relatively steady due to low inflation, he said. "Inflation as measured by the 12-month growth in core price index for consumer spending ... is hovering near the lowest pace since 1960, when this data series began," he said.
