NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Long-term mortgage rates held steady as short-term rates dipped slightly this week, remaining below 7 percent for the ninth consecutive week and at their lowest levels since November, economists said Thursday.
Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year mortgage averaged 6.71 percent in the week ending June 14, with an average of 0.7 point payable up front to the lender. The rate stayed the same as last week, remaining at its lowest level since the week of Nov. 16, 2001, when it hit 6.51 percent. The 30-year mortgage averaged 7.14 percent a year ago.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.17 percent, virtually unchanged from 6.18 percent last week and down from 6.70 percent a year ago. The 15-year averaged 0.6 point payable up front. The average rate also was at its lowest level since the week of Nov. 16, when it reached 5.98 percent.
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In addition, one-year adjustable-rate mortgages indexed to the Treasury dipped to 4.67 percent, with an average 0.7 of a point due up front, down slightly from 4.71 percent last week and down from an average of 5.82 percent a year ago. The ARM has not been lower since it averaged 4.65 percent in the week ended April 1, 1994.
"There is a slight chance the Federal Reserve Board will raise rates when it meets later this month, but with the current labor market and slowing consumer spending, it is more likely that it will take no action until August at the earliest," Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft said. "As a result, short-term interest rates, such as the one-year adjustable-rate mortgage, drifted further down this week." (Read more about increasing the retail value of a home.)
Freddie Mac (FRE: down $0.91 to $63.00, 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.
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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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