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Mortgage rates ease on Fed talk
Survey: Average rates tick lower on signs Greenspan & Co. ready to stop hiking rates soon.
December 15, 2005: 12:34 PM EST
Mortgage Rates
30 yr fixed 3.80%
15 yr fixed 3.20%
5/1 ARM 3.84%
30 yr refi 3.82%
15 yr refi 3.20%

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Rates provided by Bankrate.com.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Mortgage rates fell slightly in the latest week after the Federal Reserve signaled it may end its rate hiking campaign soon.

The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 6.30 percent, from last week's 6.32 percent, a Freddie Mac survey said.

In the year-ago period, the 30-year mortgage averaged 5.68 percent.

The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.85 percent, down from last week's 5.87 percent. A year ago, the loan averaged 5.11 percent.

Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.77 percent, compared to 5.78 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 5.15 percent, slightly below 5.16 percent from the week before. At this time last year, the one-year loan averaged 4.18 percent.

"Earlier in the week, interest rates were a bit higher, as financial markets were a little anxious about what language the Federal Reserve (Fed) would use in its statement this month," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.

"When the Fed signaled that its interest rate tightening may be coming to an end soon, the financial market breathed a sigh of relief, and rates eased somewhat," he said.

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