WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates around the country rose this week but are still lower than they were a year ago.
The average rate on 30-year mortgages increased to 5.72 percent, up from 5.68 percent last week, Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant, said Thursday in its weekly nationwide survey of mortgage rates.
Rates on 30-year mortgages have bounced around after sinking to a four-decade low of 5.21 percent in the middle of June.
For 15-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, rates rose to 5.03 percent this week, up from 4.97 percent last week. Rates for one-year adjustable mortgages increased to 3.61 percent compared to 3.59 percent last week.
It marked the second week in a row that mortgage rates went up.
But even with the increases, mortgage rates are lower than they were for the same week a year ago.
A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages averaged 5.88 percent, 15-year mortgages were 5.27 percent and one-year adjustable mortgages stood at 3.89 percent.
The nationwide averages for mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. Each loan type carried an average fee of 0.6 point this week.
Home sales reached record high levels in 2003 powered by low mortgage rates that proved too good for buyers to pass up. Economists predict home sales will slow this year as mortgage rates creep up.
“Although mortgage rates are expected to rise, particularly in the second half of the year, general affordability conditions should be favorable in most of the country throughout 2004,” said Walt McDonald, president of the National Association of Realtors.
Similarly, rising mortgage rates are expected to cool demand to refinance home mortgages, although activity is still expected to remain healthy.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said refinancing accounted for 57 percent of all home-mortgage applications filed last week, down from 58.5 percent the previous week.
People
Bernice Gutman has joined the Mill Creek office of Windermere Real Estate as a sales associate, Blake Garfield and Elliott Wood are new associates with the Lynnwood office and Andrea Bruns and Danielle Campbell have joined the Lake Stevens office.
Businesses
Quadrant Homes of Bellevue reported its home sales grew by 11 percent in 2003. The company sold 1,069 homes last year, up from 967 in 2002. Quadrant will open two developments in Snohomish County this month, the 262-home Shaunessy development near Mill Creek and the 162-home second phase of Farm at Woods Creek in Monroe.
The first National Home Buyers Assistance office has opened in Seattle. The office is part of Pacific NW Real Estate Ventures, which is looking for other franchise partners. The office offers lease-to-own purchase programs to help renters buy homes. The office is at 2500 Canterbury Lane E., Suite 105 in Seattle.
Send your real estate news items 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
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