Average interest rate for a 30-year mortgage edges up to 5%, Freddie Mac reports

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After three weeks in the sub-5% range, mortgage rates crept back to that benchmark during the week ending today, according to the latest weekly Freddie Mac survey.

Freddie’s report said lenders nationally were committing to make 30-year fixed home loans at an even 5.0% rate on average. The rate was for traditional mortgages of up to $417,000 eligible for purchase by Freddie and its sister firm Fannie Mae. It assumes a 20% down payment, good credit, and that borrowers would pay 0.7% of the loan amount in points -- the upfront charges that lower rates -- and origination fees.

The average 30-year fixed rate as calculated in the Freddie Mac survey bottomed out at 4.87% two weeks earlier with similar points and fees.

Freddie Mac economist Frank Nothaft said consumers continue to seek the stability of fixed-rate loans, which remain extraordinarily low by historical standards, even though 5/1 adjustable rate loans -- mortgage fixed for the first five years before becoming adjustable -- could be had with an initial rate of 4.4%. Only 6% of mortgage applications in September and October have been for variable-rate loans.

You can study the ups and downs of mortgage rates at Freddie Mac’s website.

-- E. Scott Reckard