Real estate rates post 5-week decline

30-year fixed falls to an average 5.63% in Freddie Mac survey



Long-term mortgage rates fell for the fifth consecutive week, according to Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage survey.



Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.63 percent, for the week ended today, down from last week when it averaged 5.66 percent. The average for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage this week is 5.14 percent, unchanged from last week. Points on both the 30- and 15-year averaged 0.7.



Five-Year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5 percent this week, with an average 0.6 points, down slightly from 5.02 last week. There is no annual historical information for last year since Freddie Mac began tracking this mortgage rate at the start of this year.



One-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.23 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when they averaged 4.18 percent.



"Not surprisingly, the one-year ARM rose on the expectation that the Fed would raise rates once again when they met last week," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "We will probably see the ARM rise a little more over the next few weeks in anticipation of further rate increases by the Fed, while the long-term fixed rates remain fairly flat.



"Mortgages rates remain historically low, which helps to maintain a robust housing industry. Looking forward, we continue to expect rates will not rise very much this year, and that the economy will grow at a sustainable pace, and this should translates into a continued good atmosphere for housing.



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