Freddie Mac has released its weekly survey of average mortgage rates. The survey, which began in 1971, collects data from 125 financial institutions across the country including thrifts, commercial banks, and mortgage lending companies, each in numbers roughly proportional to their share of mortgage activity nationwide.

The latest survey, for the week ending January 13, showed a slight dip in fixed rate mortgages and a slight rise in one of the two types of adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) tracked by the survey.
30-year fixed rate mortgages dropped to 5.74 percent from 5.77 percent reported by the survey for the week ended January 6. Average fees and point also fell to 0.6 from 0.7 the previous week. Rates for 15-year loans were down to 5.19 percent from 5.21 with fees holding steady at 0.6.

The 1-year ARM was unchanged at 4.10 percent but fees dropped 0.1 to 0.6, and the 5/1 ARM, which Freddie has just begun to track, was up .02 percent to 5.05 with fees and points unchanged at 0.5.

The Mortgage Banker’s Association survey for the week ending January 7 showed a slowdown in the rate of mortgage applications. The Market Composite Index, a measure of application volume, was down 3.0 percent to 587.6 from the previous week. While The Conventional Wisdom has predicted a decrease in both the volume of refinances and the use of ARMs, both were up in the MBA survey. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 49.0 percent from 48.0 percent the previous week and the ARM share of activity increased, albeit only slightly, from 32.6 percent to 32.7. One year ARM’s, however, decreased 0.1 percent indicating, as Freddie Mac had earlier predicted, an increase in the popularity of hybrid loans, particularly the 5/1 adjustable.

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