Florida Mortgage Rates Move Up Slightly
After weeks of slowly dropping, average rates on 30-year Florida mortgages rose to 6.22 percent in the week ending this Thursday, according to a weekly Freddie Mac survey of large home loan providers.
Last week, Florida mortgage rates averaged 6.17 percent.
The last time they were at 6.22 percent was back on February 22. Rates on 15-year home mortgages also rose to 5.90 percent from 5.87 percent, while one-year ARMs averaged 5.47 percent, compared to 5.44 percent a week ago.
Despite the increase, the costs of mortgages were still well below their year-ago levels, when 30-year Florida home loans averaged 6.49 percent, 15-year loans were 6.14 percent, and the one year ARM was 5.61 percent.
Florida mortgage rates may be going up, but on Wednesday the National Association of Realtors said home prices were going down.
The trade group forecasts median home prices will tumble 0.7 percent this year to $220,300, the first time in nearly 40 years that it has forecast an annual decline.
Florida mortgage lending has fallen quickly into a crisis as subprime (bad credit) borrowers with poor credit have registered high foreclosures in recent months.
But Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac V.P. and chief economist, said the mortgage rate rise was related to data released last week showing the country had stronger job growth in March than markets anticipated.
In all, Florida mortgage refinancing activity has remained strong, with 40 percent of total mortgage applications allocated for refinance purposes.
“Among those borrowers who are choosing to refinance now, a large share are doing so to avoid an adjustment to their monthly payment as the initial period on their adjustable-rate loan expires or to extract home equity through a cash-out refinance,” he said.
A Florida mortgage lender charged an average of 0.4 percent in points on 30-year home loans, the same as last week, and an average of 0.4 points atop their 15-year mortgages, down from 0.5 percent last week. One-year points on ARMs dropped to 0.5 percent from 0.6 percent.
The “5/1″ ARM, set at a fixed mortgage rates for five years and adjustable each year following that, moved to 5.93 percent from 5.92 percent. Fees and points charged on the hybrid ARMs averaged 0.5 percent, a decline from 0.6 percent.
SOURCE: Reuters
