30-Year Mortgage Rates Hold Steady This Week

Mortgage rates continued to hold steady below 5 percent this week, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage market survey.

"Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have averaged at or below 5 percent in every week but one this year, contributing to record home affordability,” says Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Here are how rates fared for the week:

- 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 4.88 percent, up just slightly from last week’s 4.87 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year mortgage rate averaged 4.95 percent.

- 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 4.15 percent, holding at the same as last week’s average. Last year at this time, the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage stood at 4.32 percent.

- 5-year adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 3.73 percent this week, up slightly from last week’s 3.72 percent. A year ago at this time, the 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 4.05 percent.

"Mortgage rates held steady amid a strong employment report,” Nothaft says. The private sector added 222,000 jobs in February--the most since March 2006. The unemployment rate also fell to its lowest share since April 2009 at 8.9 percent.

Source: “30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Holds Steady at 4.88%,” Freddie Mac (March 10, 2011)