REAL ESTATE
<i> Times Staff and Wire Reports</i>
Mortgage Rates Edge Higher: Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 7.85% this week, up from 7.83% last week, according to a national survey by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. It was the highest since May 11, when the average was 7.87%. The average hit a 25-year low of 6.74% in October, 1993. On one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 6.06%, down from 6.10% last week. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for those refinancing mortgages, averaged 7.40% this week, up from 7.39% a week earlier. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points.
