NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 6.03 percent this week, up from last week's 5.98 percent, a Freddie Mac survey said Thursday.
In the year-ago period, the 30-year mortgage averaged 5.74 percent.
The 30-year rate first dipped below 6 percent in January 2003, having not been that low since 1965, according to Freddie Mac. After straddling the milestone for two years, it has not been above 6 percent since March.
The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.62 percent, up from 5.54 percent the previous week. A year ago, the loan averaged 5.14 percent.
"In spite of the job losses caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the employment report was better than had been expected," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "This indicates that economic growth is likely to accelerate in 2006. That acceleration of growth, coupled with the specter of higher energy costs, will translate into higher long-term mortgage rates in the coming months."
Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.57 percent, compared to 5.48 percent the previous week. There is no data available for a year-to-year comparison because Freddie Mac only began tracking the 5-year loans this year.
One-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.85 percent, up slightly from 4.77 percent the week before. At this time last year, the one-year loan averaged 4.01 percent.
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