McLEAN, VA -- Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.83 percent, with an average 0.8 points, for the week ending September 9, 2004, up from last week when it averaged 5.77 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.44 percent.

The average for the 15-year FRM this week is 5.22 percent, with an average 0.8 points, also up from last week when it averaged 5.15 percent. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.77 percent.

One-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 4.00 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.97 percent. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 3.98 percent.

"August's 144,000-job gain, combined with a 41,000 upward revision for July, signaled a strengthening economy and helped push mortgage rates up slightly this week," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "However, Fed Chairman Greenspan's testimony to Congress yesterday outlined a less robust economy than he previously had portrayed, offsetting some of the interest rate increase.

"Freddie Mac's own economic forecast calls for a mild and gradual increase in 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates to about six percent by the end of the year. Low mortgage rates will sustain a brisk housing market, leading to record home sales and single-family construction this year."

Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation established by Congress in 1970 to create a continuous flow of funds to mortgage lenders in support of homeownership and rental housing. Freddie Mac purchases mortgages from lenders and packages them into securities that are sold to investors. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers in America.

Published: September 10, 2004

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