30-Year Fixed Rates Hit 7-Week High
Freddie Mac reported Thursday that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.04 percent this week, up from 5.72 percent last week.</br></br>For the next six weeks, the rate fell below 6 percent as the markets reacted to slowing economic growth and rising risk of a recession by pushing interest rates lower.</br></br>One-year, adjustable-rate mortgages are still about one-half percentage point lower than they were at the start of the year, reflecting the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate cuts in January engineered to combat the economic slowdown.</br></br>"As the spread between long-term fixed-rates and adjustable rates widens, it is possible we could see a slight increase in the popularity of adjustable-rate mortgages," said Frank E. Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac.</br></br>Rates on 15-year mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, jumped up to 5.64 percent this week, compared with 5.25 percent last week. Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.37 percent from 5.19 percent.