Mortgage Rate Up Again

After a drop last week, the mortgage rate hiked this week again, probably influenced by Consumer Price Index figures for June, which indicated that inflation could still be a threat for US economy. But comments made yesterday by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke allayed that fear to certain extent, which saw significant gain in stock prices on Wednesday. Bernanke's comments could possibly limit the up-side of mortgage rates in the coming days.

According to Freddie Mac's weekly survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.80% in the week that ended today -- up from its 6.74% average last week. At this time last year, the loan averaged 5.73%. The 15-year fixed rate averaged at 6.41% this week, again an increase from last week's 6.37%. At this time last year this rate was 5.32%.

Rate for 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM) averaged at 6.36% increasing from last week's 6.33%. This rate averaged 5.26% a year ago. The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARMs also moved up this week to 5.80% from last week's rate of 5.75%. At this time in 2005, the 1-year ARM averaged only 4.42%.