30-Year Loan Rate Unchanged at 5.58%
Rates on benchmark 30-year mortgages held steady at a seven- month low this week, while rates for other types of mortgages were mixed.</br></br>The average rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages was 5.58 percent, unchanged from last week, Freddie Mac said Thursday in its weekly nationwide survye of mortgage rates. The rate is at its lowest point since it was 5.52 percent for the week ended July 11. Rates on 30-year mortgages were at 5.21 percent in mid-June, the lowest level in more than four decades. Since then rates have been up and down.</br></br>For 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, rates rose to 4.89 percent this week, up from 4.87 percent last week.</br></br>Rates for one-year adjustable mortgages, meanwhile, decreased to 3.50 percent, from 3.53 percent last week.</br></br>"There was very little movement either way this week," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "And it looks like consumers are taking advantage of the low level of mortgage rates as applications for home purchases and refinancing are up for the last two weeks."