Home loan rates in the US have almost remained steady last week, seeing a near record low level for the most part, particularly for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, said Freddie Mac.
Meanwhile, average rate for the 30-year fixed mortgage rose slightly to 4.79 percent for the week that ended Thursday, according to a weekly survey conducted by Freddie Mac.
The average rate in the week prior was recorded at 4.78 percent, the lowest level since December last year, compared to a 5.29-percent average rate of the 30-year fixed mortgage in the previous year.
“The economy grew at a slower rate than originally reported in the first three months of the year … which suggests inflation will remain tame in the near term," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac, referring to revised data on the US GDP.
"As a result, mortgage rates held at historic levels this week,” he said.
The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgage declined to 4.2 percent, the lowest since Freddie Mac started to track mortgages in 1991, from 4.21 percent in the previous week
The one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage rate was averaged at 3.95 percent, unchanged from the previous week and the lowest since May 2004. The average one-year ARM was 4.81 percent a year ago.
The five-year Treasury-indexed ARM average was down to 3.94 percent from 3.97 percent a week ago and 4.85 percent in 2009.