NEW YORK, NY - Mortgage rates moved up slightly, with the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate rising to 4.03 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.23 discount and origination points.
The average 15-year fixed mortgage inched up to 3.23 percent, while the larger jumbo 30-year fixed mortgage increased to 4.13 percent. Adjustable rate mortgages were mixed, with the 5-year ARM rising to 3.19 percent while the 10-year ARM slid to 3.71 percent.
Mortgage rates increased for a fourth consecutive week amid the continued guessing game surrounding the timing of an initial Federal Reserve interest rate hike. Mortgage rates remain at the highest level since mid-December, having climbed from 3.79 percent to 4.03 percent in a four-week span. The positive and negative economic data have been see-sawing back-and-forth, without revealing a clear indication of when the Federal Reserve will need to raise interest rates. But the data haven't been so uniformly weak as to make it clear the Fed won't eventually raise rates, and that's why there has been an upward bias to mortgage rates in recent weeks.
Just four weeks ago, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 3.79 percent. At that time, a $200,000 loan would have carried a monthly payment of $930.78. With the average rate now at 4.03 percent, the monthly payment for the same size loan would be $958.29, a difference of $27 per month for any fence-sitters that waited too long.
SURVEY RESULTS
30-year fixed: 4.03% -- up from 4.01% last week (avg. points: 0.23)
15-year fixed: 3.23% -- up from 3.22% last week (avg. points: 0.18)
5/1 ARM: 3.19% -- up from 3.17% last week (avg. points: 0.19)
Bankrate's national weekly mortgage survey is conducted each Wednesday from data provided by the top 10 banks and thrifts in 10 top markets.
For a full analysis of this week's move in mortgage rates, go to www.bankrate.com
The survey is complemented by Bankrate's weekly Rate Trend Index, in which a panel of mortgage experts predicts which way the rates are headed over the next seven days. There is not a clear consensus this week, as 40 percent of the panelists predict a decline in mortgage rates in the coming week. The remaining respondents were evenly divided, with 30 percent forecasting that mortgage rates will continue climbing and 30 percent expecting mortgage rates to remain more or less unchanged over the coming week.