Mortgages
- 4.46% (30-year fixed)
- 0.34 (average points)
Here's a look at the state of mortgage rates from Bankrate.com's weekly national survey of large banks and thrifts conducted Nov. 10, 2010.
Mortgage rates ticked up slightly this week, but remained locked in the rock-bottom range of recent weeks.
The 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 4.46 percent in Wednesday's weekly Bankrate survey, up 4 basis points from the previous week's 4.42 percent, which was an all-time low. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
The average jumbo 30-year fixed is up 4 basis points, to 5.08 percent.
Other benchmark mortgages showed a similar pattern -- of slight increases but remaining at historically low levels. The 15-year fixed rate mortgage climbed 3 basis points to 3.84 percent. And the popular 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage rose 5 basis points to 3.62 percent. With a 5/1 ARM, the interest rate is fixed for the first five years and then adjusted annually for the remainder of the loan's term.
Despite the seemingly affordable mortgage rates, housing remains mired in a deep slump, however. According to a report released Wednesday by Zillow, a realty research firm, home values nationally were down 4.3 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period a year earlier. They declined 1.2 percent between the end of June and the end of September, the report added.
It marked the 17th consecutive quarterly decline, according to the Zillow report, and left U.S. home values 25 percent below their 2006 peak.
"Nationally, we don't expect home values to hit bottom until first half of 2011 at the earliest due to continuing increases in foreclosure volumes," the report concluded.
Find out monthly mortgage payments using Bankrate's mortgage calculator.
-- Gregg Fields