US Mortgage Rates On The Rise

(RTTNews) - Mortgage rates have risen this week for the first time in two months driven by improving economic conditions.

Releasing the results of its primary mortgage market survey, Freddie Mac said that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage or FRM averaged 3.64 percent for the week ended March 3, up from last week when it averaged 3.62 percent. A year ago at this time, the average rate was 3.75 percent.

Sean Becketti, Chief Economist at Freddie Mac, said, "The market turbulence that kicked off the year subsided at the end of February, providing at least a temporary break in the flight to quality."

"Treasury yields approached their highest level in a month, boosting the 30-year mortgage 2 basis points this week to 3.64 percent. Despite this welcome breather, Fed officials have been highlighting the downside risks to the economic outlook, and the market expects the Fed to refrain from any further short-term rate increases for now," Becketti said.

Investors were driven by reports of higher consumers spending, increase in construction and an improving manufacturing industry.

The Freddie Mac survey also showed that the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.94 percent this week, up from 2.93 percent in the prior week. A year ago at this time, the rate for the 15-year loans averaged 3.03 percent.

The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage or ARM averaged 2.84 percent, up from 2.79 percent last week. It was 2.96 percent a year ago.