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Mortgage rates hold steady
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January 27, 2000: 3:55 p.m. ET
For first time in almost 3 months, mortgages show a slight dip
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Mortgage rates stood pat this week, after 10 successive weeks of hikes brought on by rising interest rates.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 8.25 percent for the week ending Jan. 28, according to a survey by Freddie Mac. That's actually a slight drop from last week's rate of 8.26 percent.
But last week's rates were the highest in more than three years. After the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates last year, mortgages are still well above their levels 12 months ago. Back then, you could have got a 30-year fixed mortgage at 6.74 percent.
The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also dipped a little from last week, falling to 7.84 percent from 7.86 percent. That kind of mortgage averaged 6.37 percent a year ago.
Adjustable-rate mortgages, which have not always shared in the rate increases in recent weeks, again moved in the opposite direction from fixed-rate mortgages. The average adjustable-rate mortgage ran 6.65 percent, up from 6.56 percent last week. That is also substantially from a year ago, when the average rate stood at 5.57 percent.
(Click here for a breakdown of average mortgage rates by U.S. region).
Strong economic growth and record levels of consumer confidence, as well as reasonable mortgage rates, continue to power a strong housing market, said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's deputy chief economist.
"The current housing market continues to show a great deal of strength," Nothaft said. "Home sales are still setting a robust pace." Though existing home sales dipped 1.4 percent for December, the pace is still very vigorous, he said.
Freddie Mac (FRE), or the Federal Home Mortgage Corp., is a publicly traded company that buys mortgages from banks, bundles them and then sells them as mortgage-backed securities. 
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