Freddie Mac: Mortgage rates rise slightly after last week’s record lows

After last week‘s record-setting low fixed mortgage rates, Freddie Mac announced that the past seven days brought a slight uptick. Thirty-year average rates rose 0.1 percentage point to 4.81 percent, while the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage saw a 0.5 percent increase, to 4.32 percent. The rise came on the heels of a better-than-expected unemployment report for November, though mortgage rates are still at historically-low levels. One year ago, the average for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages came in at 5.2 percent. As for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, they are ” almost 0.7 percentage points below those at the same time last year, [which] translates into an $81 lower monthly payment on a $200,000 conventional mortgage,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac.