This past week has shown how unpredictable mortgage rates can become in an uneasy economic market. Conforming 30 year fixed mortgage rates have gradually increased from 4.625% to 4.875% while 15 year have gone from 3.875% to 4.250% according to FreeRateUpdate.com's daily survey of wholesale and direct lenders rate sheets. These mortgage rates continue to be available to well qualified borrowers with 0.7 to 1% origination fee.

FHA 30 year fixed mortgage rates have followed the same pattern this week inching up from 4.500% to 4.625%. At the same time, FHA 15 year fixed mortgage rates have stayed the same at 4.000% while FHA 5/1 adjustable mortgage rates took a leap from 3.125% to 3.500%. FHA fixed mortgages are still below conforming mortgage rates and continue to attractive borrowers especially new home buyers because of their low down payment requirements. FHA mortgage loans can also be complemented with state and local housing initiative programs for greater savings to borrowers.

Jumbo mortgage loans continue to be low, but have also been on the upswing. Jumbo 30 year fixed mortgage rates have gone from 5.125% to 5.500 this week and jumbo 15 year fixed mortgage rates from 4.750% to 5.000%. Borrowers in need of jumbo mortgage loans should be looking into locking these mortgage rates with 0.7 to 1% origination fee since no one knows if they will go higher soon.

This week has had slow days with no economic data reported to uneasiness occurring in Egypt. Both positive and negative information is affecting MBS prices (mortgage backed securities), sometimes in unexpected ways. Friday's good news of lower unemployment was still mixed with fear of inflation which caused a decrease in MBS prices and a spike in mortgage rates.

Published: February 9, 2011

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Edward James Ferrara III spent 8 years (2001-2008) brokering and banking home loans in Orange County, CA to the tune of some 500 million dollars in mortgages funded by May of 2008, when he founded the rate research website FreeRateUpdate.com. Ed is not only the founder of FreeRateUpdate.com, he is also a lead contributor to the site, whose roster includes over a dozen writers and of which receives over 50,000 page views per month. Ed's passion for helping consumers to avoid falling victim to banks dishing out higher rates for bigger profits has helped FreeRateUpdate.com to become a unique authority on mortgage rates. Ed recently married Cheyne Aki Gantt and became a first time father to Edward James Ferrara IV, born August 31st 2009. Ed and FreeRateUpdate.com have recently been cited in numerous media outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Yahoo Finance, and Marketwatch.