ARMs rates go up slightly higher

As stated by Freddie Mac, interest rates on 30 year fixed rate mortgages (FRMs) in the United States have recorded an average value of 6.26% for the week ending December 1. The rates on such home loans have gone down slightly from last week's average of 6.28%. But this is high enough compared to the rates around this time last year, when FRMs averaged a rate of 5.81%. Where 30 year mortgages recorded a fall in rates this week, the 15 year fixed rate mortgages on the other hand, recorded an average rate of 5.81% that remained unchanged since the past week.

Unlike the FRMs, the adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) continued to rise even this week but to a lower value. The 5 year Treasury-indexed hybrid ARMs registered an average rate slightly higher than that of last week when it recorded a rate of 5.75%. The average rate for such home loans this week however climbed to 5.76% with an average of 0.6 point. Similar to these 5 year mortgages, the 1 year Treasury-indexed ARMs also averaged a slightly higher rate of 5.16% compared to last week's average rate of 5.14%. But compared to interest rates (4.19%) around this time last year, the rates this time have been hiked quite significantly.

Experts predict that mortgage rates will not go sky high any more like the past few months. They are of the opinion that current mortgage rates along with the new conforming loan limit for the year 2006 will help to keep the mortgage industry moving ahead at the beginning of the next year.