No News, Good News? Mortgage Rates Slip as Economy Dithers

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slipped to 3.42 percent this week as market watchers waited for news about the economy, according to ""Zillow"":http://www.zillow.com/

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The real estate website found the benchmark home loan falling from 3.44 percent last week, only after peaking at 3.47 percent on Wednesday.

Interest rates for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.76 percent, while those for 5-year and 1-year adjustable-rate mortgages hovered around 2.4 percent.

Mortgage rates zigzagged across much of the rest of the country, falling 12 basis points in New York but rising by three basis points in Illinois.

""Mortgage rates held steady last week on limited economic news or market moving events,"" ""Erin Lantz"":http://www.zillow.com/profile/Erin-Lantz/, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, said in a statement. ""Looking ahead, although today will be a busy day in terms of both European and US economic data releases, we don't expect this data will change investor sentiment.

""So, for the coming week, we expect rates to remain in the sideways pattern they've been holding for most of the summer,"" she added.