10/26/2005 Weekly Mortgage Roundup

Here's the latest update from Shawn Repulles of Equitas Capital.

• Mortgage rates climbed for the sixth consecutive week and haven't been this high since July 2004.


• The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage increased from 6.1 percent to 6.17 percent, and the average 15-year, fixed mortgage rate nosed higher as well, rising from 5.69 percent to 5.72 percent.


• The average jumbo 30-year, fixed rate rose to 6.33 percent from 6.25 percent last week.


• Adjustable-rate mortgages also moved up, with the average 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage notching higher from 5.74 percent to 5.77 percent, while the average one-year ARM climbed from 5.07 percent to 5.16 percent.


• Concerns about higher inflation continue to push fixed mortgage rates higher. In the past week, both the Consumer Price Index, or CPI, and the Producer Price Index, or PPI, showed sharp increases, precipitated by higher oil and energy costs.


• Higher inflation makes bond investors nervous because it erodes the fixed payments on bonds and cements the notion of more Fed interest-rate hikes.  Mortgage rates are closely related to yields on long-term government bonds.

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