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Mortgage rates retreat
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June 1, 2000: 3:31 p.m. ET
Fixed-rate mortgages decline as economy shows signs of slowing down
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Fixed-rate mortgages declined in the latest week, indicating that the red-hot economy could be cooling off, according to a survey released Thursday by Freddie Mac.
The latest figures for home sales show they declined also.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 8.54 percent for the week ending June 2, down from 8.62 percent a week earlier. The same mortgage was 7.41 percent a year ago.
The average for a fixed-rate 15-year mortgage was 8.24 percent this week, down from 8.31 percent the previous week. A year ago the rate was 7.04 percent.
 A one-year adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 7.25 percent, unchanged from the previous week. The same mortgage averaged 5.85 percent a year ago.
"The fixed-rate mortgage rates are lower this week than last as fears of inflation subsided somewhat," said Frank Nothaft, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac. "But rates are still higher than they were in April when we saw a slowdown in housing sales."
[Click here to see a breakdown of U.S. mortgage rates by region.]
Nothaft said all these signs could be an indication that the economy is finally slowing down.
Freddie Mac (FRE: Research, Estimates), or Federal Home Mortgage Corp., is a publicly traded company the government set up in 1970 to provide a flow of funds to mortgage lenders.
It buys mortgages from banks, bundles them, and then resells them as mortgage-backed securities. Its products and the products of other similar agencies have become increasingly popular as an alternative to government-backed bonds, particularly with international investors. 
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