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Mortgage rates dip slightly
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November 19, 1998: 2:18 p.m. ET
Fed cut anticipation may have pushed rates lower for first time in three weeks
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Mortgage rates fell this week after rising three consecutive weeks, mortgage firm Freddie Mac said Thursday.
For the week ending Nov. 20, the rate on U.S. 30-year fixed mortgages slipped to an average 6.86 percent from last week's 6.93 percent. Fifteen-year loans also fell to an average 6.51 percent from 6.57 percent the week before.
One-year adjustable rate mortgages, too, were slightly lower at an average 5.52 percent, down from last week's 5.56 percent. A year ago, interest rates on 30-year mortgages were 7.18 percent, 15-year rates were 6.73 percent, and adjustables came in at 5.48 percent.
"Anticipation of the Federal Reserve's move to lower rates may explain the slight drop in interest rates this week," Freddie Mac chief economist Robert Van Order said.
He added, "But the fact that rates remain low and affordable is good news for the housing industry. Affordable interest rates undoubtedly were a large part of the reason October housing starts were so high."
Earlier Thursday the Commerce Department said U.S. housing starts rose 7.3 percent last month to an annual rate of 1.695 million units. On Tuesday, the Fed cut the overnight federal funds rate to 4.75 percent from 5 percent and the discount emergency lending rate to 4.50 percent from 4.75 percent.
Freddie Mac said lenders charged an average 0.9 percent in fees and points on 30- and 15-year mortgages, down from 1.0 percent last week. They charged 1.0 percent on the one-year adjustables, unchanged from the prior week.
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