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Mortgage rates jump back up
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November 15, 2001: 1:29 p.m. ET
The 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages climb from last week's lows.
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Fixed mortgage rates rose this week after dropping to their lowest points in years, while one-year adjustable-rate mortgages were down from the previous week, a reflection of the Fed's recent interest rate cut.
According to Freddie Mac, the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage gained .06 percentage point from the previous week, up to 6.51 percent from 6.45 percent Nov. 8 and down from 7.73 percent in the same week last year.
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The average this week for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.98 percent, a 0.04 percentage point increase from last week. A year ago, the same rate stood at 7.41 percent. The 15-year FRM hasn't hit this low in at least 10 years, according to Freddie Mac.
One-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.06 percent, down from last week's 5.30 average. The same mortgage averaged 7.25 percent at this time last year.
"Speculation in the market that the Fed may not act as aggressively as investors had expected caused long-term mortgage rates to move up this week," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac deputy chief economist. "But this slight bump in rates is consistent with most economic forecasts and does not signal an end to current low mortgage rates."
Van Order added that there is some evidence that the slowdown in housing is easing as a result of low mortgage rates, although he forecasts that October housing starts will probably show a decline when the numbers are reported Monday.
[Click here for a breakdown of U.S. mortgage rates by region]
Freddie Mac (FRE: Research, Estimates), or Federal Home Mortgage Corp., is a publicly traded company the government established 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 entities, have become increasingly popular as an alternative to government-backed bonds, particularly with international investors. 
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