News Facts

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.09 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending September 22, 2011, matching last week when it also averaged 4.09 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.37 percent.  

• 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.29 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.30 percent.A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.82 percent.  

• 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.02 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.99 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.54 percent.

• 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.82 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.81 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 3.46 percent.  

Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following links for Regional and National Mortgage Rate Details and Definitions.

Quotes

Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac.

• "A sluggish economy and investor concerns over the European debt markets left mortgage rates largely unchanged this week. Manufacturing activity in both the New York and Philadelphia regions contracted in September. Moreover, the Federal Reserve Board reported that households lost nearly $150 billion in net worth in the second quarter, representing the first quarterly decline in a year.

• "Meanwhile, recent data on the housing market were mixed. The Census Bureau reported that new housing construction dipped five percent in August to an annual pace of 571,000 homes, and homebuilder confidence remained near record lows for September according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. Existing home sales, however, rose to 5.03 million homes in August, which represented the strongest annualized rate since March of this year."