4.81%: Your Weekly Mortgage Rate Update

• February 3rd 2011

by Mark Wellborn

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Long-term interest rates remained virtually unchanged this week, with Freddie Mac reporting 4.81 percent as the average on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage this morning, up from 4.8 percent last week.

“Mortgage rates held relatively stable this week on news that the economy improved and inflation remained in check at the end of 2010,” Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft said.

The Washington Post had an interesting story earlier this week about borrowers who are refinancing and bringing more money to the table in order to take advantage of the low rates. Dina ElBoghdady reported that “46 percent of borrowers who refinanced their primary mortgages [in the fourth quarter of 2010] brought cash to settlement to lower the balance on their loans” making for the highest percentage of “cash-in” refinances since 1985.

Here is a quick mortgage rate timeline over the last 18 months:

• January 14, 2010 — 4.71%

• January 7, 2010 — 4.77%

• December 17, 2010 — 5.07%

• December 4, 2010 — 4.46%

• November 11, 2010 — 4.17%

• October 7, 2010 – 4.27%

• July 29, 2010 – 4.54%

• December 9, 2009 – 4.71%

• October 14, 2009 – 4.87%

• August 3, 2009 – 5.25%

• June 12, 2009 – 5.65%

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/4.81_your_weekly_mortgage_rate_update/2947.