Florida Home Loan Rates Remain Steady

Florida mortgage rates moved slightly or not at all in the past week as conflicting signals continue to permeate regarding the housing market.

The benchmark Florida home loan - the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage - didn’t change at all over the past week, according to a Freddie Mac survey.

The loan remained at 6.16 percent for the week ending March 29, while the 30-year Florida mortgage averaged 6.35 percent a year ago.

“Despite concerns about possible spillover from the subprime market, rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages remained stable,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac V.P. and chief economist.

Meanwhile, data on both existing and new home sales continued to send mixed signals regarding the Florida housing market’s future.

“The rise in existing home sales in February to a 6.69 million unit pace, the highest level since last April… In contrast, February’s new home sales fell, unexpectedly, to the slowest pace since 2000. That suggests more time before a housing recovery,” Nothaft said.

Over the past week, 15-year fixed mortgage rates averaged 5.86 percent, a decline from last week’s 5.90 percent and from an even 6 percent one year ago.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate Florida mortgages averaged 5.88 percent, down from last week’s 5.91 percent and 6.02 percent last year.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.43 percent, up from last week’s 5.40 percent, and down from 5.51 percent a year ago.

To obtain the rates listed above, a Florida mortgage lender required, on average, the payment of 0.4 points on 15- and 30-year mortgages.

The 5-year ARM required the up-front payment of an average of 0.5 points and the 1-year ARM required an average of 0.6 points.

Florida home mortgage loan application volume decreased 0.2 percent during the week of March 23, but is up about 17 percent compared to 2006.

SOURCE: MarketWatch