FreddieMac: Year-end mortgage rates show little change

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Interest rates on long-term, fixed-rate mortgages were slightly higher in the week ending Thursday, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said.

Rates for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose from 4.47 percent to 4.48 percent with an average 0.7 point in the past week.

A year ago, rates for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.35 percent.

Rates for 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose from 3.51 percent to 3.52 percent with an average 0.7 point in the week. A year ago in the same week, 15-year, fixed-rate loans averaged 2.65 percent.

Among the shorter-duration loans, rates for five-year Treasury-indexed, hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3 percent this week with an average 0.4 point. Rates a week ago averaged 2.96 percent. A year ago, they averaged 2.7 percent.

Rates for one-year, Treasury-indexed, adjustable-rate loans averaged 2.56 percent in the week, down from 2.57 percent in the previous week. One-year loans averaged 0.5 point.

Last year over the same period, rates for one-year, adjustable-rate loans averaged 2.56 percent.

One point is equal to 1 percent of the amount of the loan and is typically paid up front. It includes a corresponding discount on the loan's long-term interest rates.

"Mortgage rates were little changed this week following mixed economic reports," said Frank Nothaft, FreddieMac's vice president and chief economist. "Real GDP was revised upwards to 4.1 percent growth in the third quarter. However, existing-home sales dropped 4.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4,900,000 in November."