Mortgage Rates Hold Steady because of Mixed Signals

By Sari R. Updated on 9/25/2013

There are some mixed signals on the wellness of the housing market and the US economy in general and as a result, the mortgage rates did not change much from the previous week.

According to the Freddie Mac survey, the 30-year fixed mortgage is currently averaging 3.98% barely dropping from last week's average of 3.99%. In 2011 same time, the 30-year fixed mortgage was averaging 4.87%.

The 15-year fixed rate mortgage, which happens to have become a popular refinancing loan option, averaged 3.21% which slipped from last week's 3.23%. In 2011, the average rate for a 15-year fixed rate mortgage was 4.1%.

Five-year ARM averaged 2.86%, slipping from 2.9% the previous week but down from 3.72% in 2011.  Last bu not least, the one-year ARM averaged 2.78% which was actually unchanged from previous week and lower from 3.22% in 2011.

According to many surveys the housing market remains depressed.  However there are new government programs such as the HARP II refinance which are supposed to help grow the real estate market by letting homeowners refinance their underwater loans. However, this is a mixed bag and mortgage rates are holding steady for now.