Mortgage Rates See First Increase in 2012

Interest rates for mortgage loans went up for the first time in several months this week but remain near historic lows.

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Finance Web site ""Bankrate.com"":http://www.bankrate.com/ and mortgage giant ""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com/ reported modest increases for mortgage rates across the board.

Freddie Mac found the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rising from an all-time low of 3.88 percent last week to 3.98 percent this week, far below 4.80 percent seen for the loan at the same

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time last year. Bankrate.com posted a similar increase from 4.18 percent last week to 4.25 percent this week.

The finance Web site said that the 15-year loan rose from 3.39 percent last week to 3.45 percent, while Freddie posted 3.24 percent for the product this week, up from 3.17 percent.

Bankrate.com said in a statement that the increase for the 30-year loan signaled a two-month break from steady declines for mortgage rates seen over the last several months.

Debt crises in eurozone nations helped drive investors to U.S. Treasury debt in recent months, widening Treasury yields and keeping mortgage rates at all-time lows.

The Web site added that the ""Federal Reserve's"":http://www.federalreserve.gov/ ""decision"":https://themreport.com/articles/fomc-to-maintain-low-interest-rates-until-2014-2012-01-25 Wednesday to keep interest rates between 0 percent and .25 percent ""is likely to unwind the modest increase of the past week.""

For Freddie, 5-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) hovered around 2.85 percent this week, up from 2.82 percent last week, while rates for the 1-year ARM stayed the same at 2.74 percent.

Bankrate.com found rates for 5-year and 1-year ARMs ticking up from 3.06 percent last week to 3.09 percent this week.