March 30, 2012 (Jeff Alan)

The average interest rates for conventional 30-year fixed rate single-family, fully amortized, purchase-money mortgages fell from 4.41 percent in January to 4.36 percent in February according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) Monthly Interest Rate Survey.

The results of the survey reflect loans closed during the February 23-29 period from 14 lenders and data from 2,865 mortgage loans. Since mortgage loans typically take 30-45 to close, the reported rates reflect market conditions in mid to late January.

The average interest rate of all mortgage loans, fixed and adjustable-rate, was 4.05 percent in February, down from 4.14 percent in January.

The effective mortgage interest rate, including initial fees and charges, fell to 4.17 percent from 4.27 percent in January.

Thirty-one percent of all purchase-money mortgage loans were no-point loans, down from 38 percent in January, while initial fees and charges averaged 0.93 percent of the loan balance in February, up slightly from 0.89 percent in January.

The average loan amount increased to $244,300 in February from $237,000 in January, with the average loan-to-price ratio declining from 75.7 percent in January to 75.3 percent in February.

The National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Home by Combined Lenders, used to index some ARM contracts, fell from 4.18 percent in January to 4.08 percent in February.

Beginning this month, FHFA is calculating interest rates using un-weighted survey data.

Tags: FHFA, mortgage interest rates, purchase money mortgages, initial fees and charges, points, mortgage loan, ARM, no-points mortgage

Source:
FHFA