|
Mortgage rates slip
|
 |
August 10, 2000: 3:52 p.m. ET
Home loan rates take a slight setback as economy begins to slow down
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Mortgage rates continued their gradual slide for the third straight week, according to a report released by Freddie Mac.
A 30-year fixed rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 8.04 percent for the week ending Aug, 11, down from 8.12 percent a week earlier. The same mortgage was 8.15 percent one year earlier.
The average for a fixed rate 15-year mortgage was 7.75 percent this week, down from last week's average of 7.88 percent the previous week. A year ago the rate was 7.70 percent.
A one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 7.28 percent, unchanged from last week. The same mortgage averaged 6.24 percent one year earlier.
[Click here to see a breakdown of U.S. mortgage rates by region.]
 "Employment figures released recently, along with the information garnered in the Beige Book, support the market's notion that the economy is beginning to slow, reducing the immediate need for the Fed to take action when it meets later this month. Thus, there is no upward pressure on interest rates," said Frank Nothaft, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac.
"If Friday's Producer Price Index results and next week's Consumer Price Index results confirm that inflation remains under control, then we may even see mortgage rates go a little lower."
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 agencies have become increasingly popular as an alternative to government-backed bonds, particularly with international investors. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
