Current Mortgage Rates Mixed, 30-Yr Rises

U.S. fixed mortgage rates jumped a little in a reprieve from the vicious weekly swings of the past three months. Thursday’s data from Freddie Mac show that the average 30-year home loan rate advanced to 5.42 percent in the week ended June 25 from 5.38 percent the past week.

It has not been unusual to experience weekly swings of 1/4 to 1/2 percentage point, depending on alternation in the government debt yields.The government debt yields is used as a peg for mortgage rates. Mortgage rates are closely connected to yields on long-term government debt.

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates pulled back sharply this week, with the average 30-year fixed mortgage spiking to a seven-month high of 5.59 percent earlier this month having fallen sharply to a record low of 4.78 percent in two separate weeks in April.

Bankrate.com's weekly national survey shows that the average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.43 discount and origination points.

According to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.42% for the week ending June 25 and moved up slightly from 5.38% last week. However, by this time last year, the mortgage averaged 6.45%.

The average 15-year fixed rate mortgage floored to 5.19 percent, whereas the average huge 30-year fixed rate edged higher to 6.97 percent. Adjustable rate mortgages were mixed, with the average 3-year ARM rising to 5.38 percent and the 5-year ARM dropping to 5.37 percent.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.99% this week, up from 4.97% previous week. This time last year, the ARM averaged 5.99% .

Notwithstanding the volatility in mortgage rates, these borrowings costs are generally lower compared to those seen this equivalent time last year. In fact, the average 30-year mortgage rate was above a full percentage point higher at 6.45 percent this time last year. This meant that a $200,000 loan would have carried a monthly payment of $1,279.96 last year because the mortgage rate was 6.62 percent. With the 30-year fixed mortgage rate currently averaging 5.76 percent, the monthly payment for a $200,000 loan would be $1,168.42.This represents a monthly saving of $111 for homeowners who are refinancing their loans at the moment.