Florida Mortgage Rates Rise Sharply
Average mortgage interest rates on 30-year Florida home loans rose in the latest week to their highest since late October 2006, according to a weekly survey.
Freddie Mac reports that 30-year home loans - the most common and benchmark Florida mortgage product - averaged 6.37 percent, up from 6.21 percent a week earlier and the highest since 6.40 percent in the week ending October 26, 2006.
At the same time, 15-year mortgage rates, a popular Florida refinance option - averaged 6.06 percent, the first time they’ve topped 6 percent in three months.
Last week, 15-year Florida mortgages averaged 5.92 percent.
One-year adjustable rate mortgages (ARM), meanwhile, averaged just 5.64 percent, up from 5.48 percent a week earlier.
A year ago, 30-year Florida mortgage loans averaged 6.62 percent, 15-year mortgages 6.23 percent and the one-year ARM 5.61 percent.
“Stronger than expected consumer confidence and comments from the Federal Reserve raised some inflation concerns, causing it to lower expectations of a Fed rate cut this year. This helped push mortgage rates higher this week,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.
“We expect a gradual rise in mortgage rates over the remainder of the year with sales slipping in the second half of the year. A recovery returns toward the end of 2007 with modest increases in sales and construction during 2008,” Nothaft said.
On Friday, the National Association of Realtors will release its U.S. April existing home sales data, which doesn’t figure to bode well in most of the Florida housing market.
Freddie Mac said that a Florida mortgage lender charged an average of 0.4 percent in fees and points on 30- and 15-year mortgages, unchanged from last week. Fees on one-year ARMs averaged 0.6 percent, down from 0.7.
The “5/1″ ARM, set at a fixed rate for five years and adjustable each year after that, averaged 6.02 percent, up from 5.92 percent last week.
Fees and points charged by Florida home loan lenders on the hybrid ARM averaged 0.5 percent, unchanged from last week.
SOURCE: Reuters
