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U.S. 30-Year Mortgage Rates
WASHINGTON (Reuters) March 18- Interest rates on U.S. 30-year
fixed-rate mortgages fell this week, reaching the lowest level since
June last year, mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said on Thursday.
Freddie Mac said rates on the most popular home loan averaged 5.38
percent in the latest week, down from 5.41 percent a week ago. It
was the lowest since an average of 5.24 percent in the June 27,
2003 week.
Fifteen-year mortgage rates were unchanged in the week at an average
of 4.69 percent.
One-year adjustable rate mortgages slipped to an average of 3.39
percent -- a new record low on Freddie Mac records going back to
1984 -- down from 3.41 percent last week.
A year ago, 30-year mortgage rates averaged 5.79 percent, 15-year
mortgages 5.11 percent and the ARM 3.75 percent.
"Mortgage rates this week are barely above the generational
low levels we saw in June of last year," said Freddie Mac chief
economist Frank Nothaft. "Indeed Freddie Mac's annual average
forecast of long-term mortgage rates is approximately 5.75 Percent
for the 30-year (fixed-rate mortgage) this year, well below the
33-year historical average.
"That said, we are currently predicting that this will fuel
yet another record year for total home sales," he added.
On Tuesday, the Commerce Department (news - web sites) said U.S.
February housing starts fell 4.0 percent to an annual rate of 1.855
million units.
Freddie Mac said lenders charged an average of 0.7 percent in fees
and points on 30-year mortgages, up from 0.6 percent last week.
They charged 0.7 percent on 15-year mortgages and 0.6 percent on
the ARM, both unchanged from a week ago.
Freddie Mac is a mortgage finance company chartered by Congress
that buys mortgages from lenders and packages them into securities
for investors or holds them in its own portfolio.
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