Mortgage rates finish week mixed

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Mortgage rates were mixed this week, with longer-term rates easing slightly, Freddie Mac said Thursday, on cooling inflationary fears.

The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate loans was 6.15 percent for the week ending May 10, down from 6.16 the previous week, the mortgage finance firm said. Last year at this time, 30-year mortgage rates averaged 6.58 percent.

"Low employment growth in April - the slowest pace since November 2004 - and downward revisions to both February and March job growth tempered market concerns of future increases in the rate of inflation," Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist said in a prepared statement. "As a result, mortgage rates were little changed this week."

Nothaft also noted that borrowers continue to refinance their home loans despite the slowdown in the growth of home prices. In the first quarter of 2007, homeowners borrowed $70.5 billion from their home equity, down from $77 billion in the previous quarter.

Earlier this week, the National Association of Realtors said it expected home prices to finish lower for the year, marking the first drop since the group started tracking values in 1968.

The rate on 15-year loans averaged 5.87 percent, unchanged from the previous week, Freddie Mac (Charts, Fortune 500) said. A year ago, the 15-year rate averaged 6.17 percent.

Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages eased to 5.89 percent up from 5.87 percent last week. The five-year ARM averaged 6.22 percent a year ago.

The average one-year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 5.48 percent, up from 5.42 percent the previous week. At this time last year, the loan averaged 5.62 percent.