Florida Mortgage Rates Down For Third Straight Week

Buyers, take notice: Florida mortgage rates fell for the third straight week after rising substantially over the previous two months.

Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored Florida home loan buyer, said that the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined to 6.59 percent for the week ending August 9, 2007 - from 6.68 percent last week.

Last year at this time, 30-year Florida mortgage rates averaged 6.55 percent.

Experts believe the decline is partially due to higher unemployment of late.

“Job creation fell short of market expectations, with 92,000 jobs added in July, the smallest gain since February, and June’s number was revised down by 6,000. In addition, the unemployment rate ticked up for the first time in four months,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

A recent dramatic drop in Florida mortgage refinancing was likely due to tighter lending standards and cooling home prices, experts believe.

“Both the tightening of underwriting standards and the slowing of house price appreciation are possible contributing factors to the decline,” Nothaft said.

“The amount of [Florida home equity loans] cashed out via refinancing… while slightly higher than the previous quarter’s level, still reflect a drop compared to the same quarter last year.”

Rates on 15-year fixed-rate Florida home loans averaged 6.25 percent in the latest week, down from 6.32 percent last week. A year ago, the 15-year loan - a popular Florida refinance alternative - averaged 6.20 percent.

Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 6.33 percent this week, up from 6.29 percent last week. One year ago, the 5-year ARM rates averaged 6.21 percent.

One-year ARMs averaged 5.65 percent this week, up from 5.59 percent last week. At this time last year, they averaged 5.69 percent.