Mortgage Rates Fell

Mortgage rates fell this week after price reports suggested inflation remains at bay, Freddie Mac said in releasing results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.38 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending June 18, down from 5.59 percent last week and 6.42 percent a year ago.

The 15-year FRM averaged 4.89 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from 5.06 percent last week and 6.02 percent a year ago.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 4.97 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from 5.17 percent last week and 5.89 percent a year ago.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 4.95 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from 5.04 percent last week and 5.19 percent a year ago.

Reports of benign inflation figures reversed the upward trend seen in mortgage rates in recent weeks, Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said in a statement.

The producer price index rose only 0.2 percent in May, a third less than forecast, and the consumer price index increased by just 0.1 percent.

A 5 percent drop in producer prices from a year ago was the largest since 1949, and a 1.3 percent yearly decrease in consumer prices was the biggest since 1950