Mortgage Rates Inch Upward

Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages rose slightly this week, inching above 5%.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.01% this week, up from 4.98% last week. Last year at this time, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.25%.

Rates fell to a record low of 4.71% set in early December. They’ve been held around 5% by a Federal Reserve program to pump $1.25 trillion into mortgage-backed securities to try to keep rates low and make home buying more affordable. That program is set to end March 31.

Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day, often in line with long-term Treasury bonds.

The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose slightly to 4.40% from 4.39% last week.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.27%, up from 4.25% a week earlier. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages dropped to 4.22% from 4.29%.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac’s survey averaged 0.7 point for 30-year and 15-year mortgages. It averaged 0.6 point for five-year loans and 0.5 point for one-year loans.