Weak job report reverses rates Long-term mortgages dip after three-week rise -- 1:44 PM EST
Dec 12, 2002 (Inman News Features via COMTEX) -- Mortgage rates responded to November's weak employment data and decreased for the first time in four weeks, according to surveys conducted by both Freddie Mac and Bankrate.
In Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.04 percent for the week ended today, falling from 6.19 percent last week. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage this week averaged 5.46 percent, down from last week's average of 5.6 percent. Points on both the 30- and 15-year averaged 0.5 point.
One-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.18 percent, with an average 0.6 point, down a little from last week's average of 4.21 percent.
"November's employment report was a letdown, and it brought mild disappointment to the financial markets, causing mortgage rates to recede," said Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft. "The lack of any job growth stalls the economic recovery and, in the long run, dampens the potential growth of the housing industry."
After rising for the past three weeks, mortgage rates reversed direction and dropped sharply this week in Bankrate.com's national survey of large lenders.
Rates on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage fell 16 basis points to 6.09 percent this week, with an average total of 0.46 discount and origination points, according to Bankrate.
Rates on the 15-year mortgage dropped 15 basis points to 5.51 percent this week, and rates on one-year adjustable mortgages also moved lower by 4 basis points to 4.48 percent. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percent.
The disappointing employment data, a jump in the unemployment rate to 6 percent and a decline in nonfarm payrolls by 40,000, along with profit-taking in the stock market, had investors moving back into the safety of government bonds.
Bankrate's panel of mortgage experts don't see much chance that rates will go up sharply soon. Just 10 percent of the experts who voted in Bankrate's rate trend index panel said they believe mortgage rates will rise over the next five weeks. The other 90 percent were split evenly between those who think rates will drop and those who predict that they will stay about the same.
The following is a sampling of Bankrate's average 30-year-mortgage interest rates this week in some U.S. metropolitan areas.
New York - 6.14 percent with .04 point
Los Angeles - 6.16 percent with .71 point
Chicago - 6.31 percent with .1 point
San Francisco - 6.21 percent with .31 point
Philadelphia - 6.02 percent with .39 point
Detroit - 6.01 percent with .31 point
Boston - 6.1 percent with .42 point
Houston - 6.11 percent with .77 point
Dallas - 5.87 percent with .81 point
Washington, D.C. - 6 percent with .7 point
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