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(MarketWatch) -- Rates on fixed-rate mortgages fell slightly this week,
staying below 5% for more than two months, according to Freddie Mac's
weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates, released Thursday.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.82% for the week ending May
21, down from 4.86% last week and 5.98% a year ago. The 15-year
fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.50%, down from 4.52% last week and 5.55%
a year ago.
"Long-term fixed-rate mortgage rates have remained below 5% for the
past 10 weeks as the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve act to keep
interest rates low through security purchases," said Frank Nothaft,
Freddie Mac chief economist, in a news release. "The Treasury purchased
$136 billion in mortgage-backed securities through April and the Fed
bought $740 billion through mid-May. In addition, the Fed purchased
$115 billion in Treasury bonds since March of this year.
Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged
4.79%, down from 4.82% last week and 5.61% a year ago. And 1-year
Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 4.82%, up from 4.71% last week; the ARMs
averaged 5.24% a year ago.
To obtain the rates, the fixed-rate mortgages required payment of an
average 0.7 point and the ARMs required an average 0.6 point. A point
is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.
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