Reports indicating that inflation remains tame kept home-mortgage rates relatively steady this week, Freddie Mac's chief economist said on Thursday.
Rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.74% for the week ended Jan. 20, up from 4.71% last week, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates. The mortgage averaged 4.99% a year ago.
Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.05% this week, down from 4.08% last week and 4.4% a year ago. Rates on five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.69%, down from 3.72% last week; the ARM averaged 4.27% a year ago.
And one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 3.25%, up from 3.23% last week; the ARM averaged 4.32% a year ago.
To obtain the rates, the fixed-rate mortgages required payment of an average 0.8 point, the five-year ARM required an average 0.7 point and the one-year ARM required an average 0.6 point. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.
"Mortgage rates were little changed during the holiday week amid reports that inflation remains tame," said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac, in a news release. "Both the December core producer price index and consumer price index matched the market consensus. Compared to December 2009, core consumer prices rose at a 0.8% rate, the smallest yearly increase since records began in 1958." But the housing construction market remains weak, he said.
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