Mortgage Rates Remain Unchanged Amid Mixed News

Interest rates for mortgage loans hovered at around the same numbers this week seen last week, even while the construction sector celebrated with boons in starts and confidence.

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Mortgage giant ""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com/ and finance Web site ""Bankrate.com"":http://www.bankrate.com/ recorded the steady creep forward and downward by releasing their respective weekly surveys.

Freddie found the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage cresting at 4.11 percent, slightly down from 4.12 last week but not far from 4.21 percent seen during the same time last year. Bankrate.com disagreed with the mortgage giant by few turns, offering an increase from 4.21 percent to 4.37 percent this week.

The finance Web site recorded a climb by the 15-year loan to 3.59 percent this week, up from 3.46 percent seen last week. Freddie posted a difference by few percentage points, with the fixed-rate mortgage inching up to 3.38 percent this week, up from 3.37 percent.

""Frank Nothaft"":http://www.freddiemac.com/bios/exec/nothaft.html, VP and chief economist with Freddie, chalked up the nominal gains in a ""statement"":http://freddiemac.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=12329&item=70830 to varying measures of national economic health.

He cited a 1.1-percent climb for retail sales over September and still-falling measures of consumer sentiment in October, alongside a

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""Federal Reserve"":http://www.federalreserve.gov/ report from this month that denoted a mild expansion of economic activity.

These and other economic forces kept a heel on mortgage rates, with the 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) leveling off at 3.01 percent this week, down from 3.06 percent last week and a far cry from 3.45 percent seen over the same time last year, according to Freddie.

The GSE noted a 2.94-percent upward climb by the 1-year ARM, a few percentage points above 2.90 percent recorded last week and likewise several notches beneath 3.30 percent seen over the same time last year.

Five-year ARMs leapt to 3.26 percent, on the way up from 3.11 percent seen last week, according to Bankrate.com. The finance Web site also noted a 3.89-percent high for 10-year ARMs.

In a ""separate statement"":http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=61502&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1616739&highlight, Bankrate.com noted a sharp rise in mortgage rates from record lows, which nonetheless remain close to rock bottom historically.

""This week's increase was spurred by better than expected job growth and optimism that Europe has a handle on their debt issues, which pushed government bond yields and mortgage rates higher,"" the finance Web site said, adding the ""optimism could prove temporary.

""All it takes is a hiccup in Europe or disappointing earnings or economic news on this side of the Atlantic, and mortgage rates will head right back down,"" it said.

Nothaft nodded at ""some good news"" for the home construction industry, citing ""heightened consumer confidence"":https://themreport.com/articles/nahb-homebuilders-more-confident-despite-outlook-2011-10-18 and ""a spike in housing starts"":https://themreport.com/articles/housing-starts-leap-forward-15-over-september-2011-10-19.

He said a 13-percent plunge in building permits with five or more units signaled ""that the multifamily building pickup may be temporary.""

Speaking with _MReport_ for a ""past story"":https://themreport.com/articles/europe-feds-treasury-buy-up-keep-mortgage-rates-low-2011-09-22, the chief economist and other analysts described the lay of the macroeconomic land as one that would continue contributing to lower mortgage rates.