From News Services and Staff Reports
Saturday, January 27, 2007

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged up to the highest level since early November as the economy continued to show surprising signs of strength.

The mortgage company Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.25 percent this week, compared with 6.23 percent last week.

It was the third consecutive weekly increase and the highest level since 6.33 percent the week of Nov. 9.

Analysts said financial markets were reacting to reports showing the economy was doing better than expected at the end of 2006. That, in turn, reduces the chance the Federal Reserve will see a need to cut interest rates.

Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, said next week's Fed meeting, as well as a government report on how the overall economy performed during the final three months of 2006, will help determine the next moves on interest rates.

The Freddie Mac survey showed that other types of mortgage rates were mixed this week.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, were unchanged at 5.98 percent.

Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 6 percent from 6.04 percent last week. One-year ARMs dipped to 5.49 percent from 5.51 percent last week.

The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. Thirty-year, 15-year and five-year mortgages each carried a nationwide average fee of 0.4 point. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages carried a fee of 0.5 point.

A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 6.12 percent while 15-year mortgages were at 5.70 percent, five-year ARMs averaged 5.75 percent and one-year ARMs were at 5.20 percent.

BUYER INFORMATION . . . More than 20 Maryland and District college-based and graduate chapters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, an international black women's public service organization, will host a home-buying expo at Morgan State University on Feb. 3 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The free event will be held at the school's student center, 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore. Chase Home Finance and Genworth Financial are national co-sponsors of the sorority's Homeownership Initiative. For more information, call 800-444-5664. Preregister online at http://www.ncimed.com/events/detail.cfm?EVENT_ID=395.

PEOPLE . . . John Clarke, a regional partner/vice president for Elm Street Development, was installed this week as president of the Maryland-National Capital Building Industry Association.

RADON TESTS . . . The District of Columbia's Department of the Environment is offering city residents free radon test kits. Radon is an invisible, odorless substance that has been linked to health problems. It has been found in houses all over the country. For more information and the free test kit, call 202-535-2302 or see http://ddoe.dc.gov.

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