Rates Continue On Slight And Gradual Upward Trend

McLean, VA Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey^SM (PMMS^SM) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.28 percent, with an average 0.5 point, for the week ending February 16, 2006, up from last week’s average of 6.24 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.62 percent.

The average for the 15-year FRM this week is 5.91 percent, with an average 0.5 point, up from last week’s average of 5.83 percent. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.14 percent.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.95 percent this week, with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 5.89 percent. A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 5.05 percent.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.36 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 5.34 percent. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 4.15 percent.

(Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total cost of obtaining the mortgage.)

“So far this year, fixed-rate mortgage rates have risen only slightly,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Long-term mortgage rates are only marginally higher than they were two months ago.

“Housing start figures in January came in at the highest level in over three decades, due in part to the combination of low rates and a warmer climate across the country.”

Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned company established by Congress in 1970 to support homeownership and rental housing. Freddie Mac fulfills its mission by purchasing residential mortgages and mortgage-related securities, which it finances primarily by issuing mortgage-related securities and debt instruments in the capital markets. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and nearly four million renters in America.