Real estate notebook

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, February 17, 2007

Rates on 30-year mortgages rose slightly this week, reversing last week’s brief decline.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.30 percent this week, up from 6.28 percent last week. Last week had been the first decline in rates since early December.

The small rebound this week came as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was telling Congress he believed the economy would continue growing at a moderate pace this year and next with inflation pressures continuing to ease.

Many analysts think that 30-year mortgages will remain in a narrow band between 6.3 percent and 6.5 percent for the rest of this year with the Fed expected to keep interest rates unchanged for much of that time.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, edged up to 6.03 percent, compared to 6.02 percent last week.

Five-year adjustable rate mortgages rose to 6.01 percent, up from 5.99 percent last week.

One-year ARMs rose to 5.52 percent, up from 5.49 percent last week.

A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 6.28 percent while 15-year mortgages were at 5.91 percent, five-year adjustable rate mortgages averaged 5.95 percent and one-year ARMs were at 5.36 percent.

People

Dawn Robnett is a new agent at the Everett office of Coldwell Banker Bain. Manalebish Hailu and Glenn Yonezawa have joined the company’s Lynnwood office as a sales agent.

Meetings

Lawyer James Randel, author of “Confessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur,” will be the keynote speaker at the February meeting of the Real Estate Association of Puget Sound. The meeting is set for 7 to 10 p.m. on Thursday at the University of Washington’s Kane Hall. Randel will talk about his miscues in real estate and how he developed his investment techniques. Information: www.reapsweb.com.

Send your real estate news to Mike Benbow, Business editor, The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206, by fax at 425-339-3435 or by e-mail at economy@heraldnet.com.