Mortgage Rate Trend for the week of 09/04/2006

A combined short working week with less than stellar financial news on the American economy over the past two weeks has resulted in the adjustable-rate mortgage rate reversing its recent downward trend this week.

According to Bankrate.com’s national survey of large lenders, Atlanta Mortgage Rates this week either held steady or went north, with the biggest mover once again being the 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage rate, which jumped 2 basis points up from last week’s rate of 5.69% to this week’s rate of 5.71%. However, American homeowners with 30 and 15 year fixed-rate mortgages had little to smile about with the 30-year long-term fixed-rate mortgage rate slipping to rise 1 basis point week-on-week, up from 5.94 last week to 5.95% this week; and all the best of this week’s lot, the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rate, only managed to hold steady at 5.66%.

While ARMs and FRMs still held steady below the crucial 6.0% marker for another week, homeowners with short-term adjustable-rate mortgages must now be feeling the pinch to jump-ship and bail into a long-term fixed mortgage before it’s too late and they’re left holding a north bound ARM rather than what is still an attractive looking long-term FRM.