Mortgage rates inch up

Mortgage rates inched up only slightly this week despite a sharper increase in bond yields, leaving the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging just under 5 percent for the week, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.99 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending March 25, up from 4.96 percent last week and 4.85 percent a year ago.

Yields on 10-year Treasury notes, by comparison, increased by 19 basis points in one week to an average of 3.84 percent on Wednesday.

The 15-year FRM averaged 4.34 percent with an average 0.6 point, up from 4.33 percent last week but down from 4.58 percent a year ago.

The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 4.14 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, up from 4.09 percent last week but down from 4.96 percent a year ago.

The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 4.2 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, up from 4.12 percent last week but down from 4.85 percent a year ago.

The Federal Reserve this month will discontinue a program in which it's purchased $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities, a move that's expected to result in a gradual increase in mortgage rates (see story).

Economists at the Mortgage Bankers Association are forecasting that rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages will climb to 5.8 percent during the final quarter of 2010, and average 6.2 percent in 2011 and 6.4 percent in 2012.

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