Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.04 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending February 21, 2008, up from last week when it averaged 5.72 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.22 percent.

The 15-year FRM this week averaged 5.64 percent with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 5.25 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.97 percent.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.37 percent this week, with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 5.19 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 5.96 percent.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 4.98 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it was 5.00 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.49 percent.

(Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total cost of obtaining the mortgage.)

"After trending up in the past two weeks, long-term fixed mortgage rates are back up to nearly where they were at the beginning of the year. In contrast, average rates on adjustable-rate mortgages are about 0.5 percentage points below levels of the first week of this year," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "As the spread between long-term fixed-rates and adjustable-rates widens, it's possible we could see a slight increase in the popularity of adjustable-rate mortgages.

"In Wednesday's release of the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's most recent meeting, the Federal Reserve reduced its forecast of economic growth for this year to a rate of 1.3 to 2.0 percent, down from the 1.8 to 2.5 percent forecast from last October. The sluggish housing market and tight credit conditions were among the factors contributing to lowered projections. Indeed, although January's housing starts showed an increase from December's level, the gains were from multifamily properties. Single-family construction in January fell to the lowest level since January 1991 and especially weak were single-family housing starts in the West, which experienced the slowest pace of construction since the beginning of the series in 1959."

Source: Freddiemac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), www.freddiemac.com