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While mortgage rates themselves rose to 4.84 percent, fees and points stayed steady at 0.7 percent.
Meanwhile, 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rates rose to 4.51%, up from 4.48% but fees and points once again stayed steady at 0.7 percent.
Mortgage rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) rose to 4.90 percent from 4.80 percent last week. Meanwhile, margin remained at 2.74 and fees and points stayed steady at 0.6 percent.
Average mortgage rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages rose very slightly at 4.78, up from 4.77 percent last week. However, the margin stayed steady at 2.76 and fees and points dropped to at 0.6 percent from 0.7 percent.
Freddie Mac feels the reason for the rise across all rates is increased confidence in the economy. They said:
"Mortgage rates rose slightly this week amid positive economic news that the economy may be approaching the bottom of the recession. In terms of the household sector, the final April estimate of consumer sentiment, as measured by the University of Michigan, was revised above the market consensus. On the business side, the ISM Manufacturing Index for April also exceeded market expectations.
"In addition, the positive news was corroborated by Fed Chairman Bernanke when he stated that he expects economic activity to bottom out, then to turn up later this year. He also noted that the housing market is beginning to stabilize. For instance, pending existing home sales rose for the second consecutive time in March and represented the first back-to-back monthly increase since March 2008.
Furthermore, in its April 2009 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, the Federal Reserve found the demand for prime mortgages rose for the first time since April 2007 when it first began collecting such detailed mortgage data."
Posted May 8th, 2009 by Michael Santo
