Mortgage rates hold steady again

For the second consecutive week, rates on 30 year mortgages remained unchanged. This week brought mixed speculations on the economy’s fate.

Freddie Mac, a government mortgage finance company reported that the fixed rate averaged 6.52% this week. That’s below the average a year ago.

"Mortgage rates held relatively steady for the second week in a row amid offsetting economic data releases," Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft said in a statement.

He noted that consumer credit ballooned by $14 billion in June but retail sales were weak in July.

Housing market news mixed

Reports on the housing market were also mixed this week. According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales rose in June. But the Federal Reserve said that commercial banks had tightened its standard for lending in July.
Nothaft said the rise in home sales signaled a possible increase in home sales in July and August, but he called the tightened lending standards "actions that may dampen further home sales activity going forward."

Other mortgage rates slipped this week, according to the Freddie Mac survey.

Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.07%, down from 6.10% last week. Last year, the 15-year mortgage averaged 6.3%

The five-year adjustable-rate mortgage declined to 6.02%, down from 6.05% last week. At this point last year, it averaged 6.35%.

The rate on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 5.18%, compared to 5.22% last week. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.67%.