US 30-year mortgage rates little changed in week

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - Average interest rates on U.S. mortgages were little changed this week, with rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages inching down to 6.16 percent from 6.17 percent, according to a weekly survey released by finance company Freddie Mac (FRE.N) on Thursday.

Rates on 15-year mortgages also dropped, to 5.87 percent from 5.89 percent last week. And one-year adjustable rate mortgages averaged 5.43 percent, down from last week's 5.45 percent.

The costs of mortgages remained well below their year-ago levels, when 30-year mortgages averaged 6.58 percent, 15-years were 6.21 percent, and the one year ARM was 5.68 percent.

"Recent economic data releases showing weaker existing home sales in March, coupled with lower consumer confidence in April, caused the market to pause and reevaluate the potential growth of the economy this year," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, in a statement. "This allowed all mortgage rates to decline slightly this week."

The National Association of Realtors reported on Tuesday that March's drop in existing home sales of 8.4 percent was the largest since January 1989.

Freddie Mac said lenders charged an average of 0.5 percent in fees and points on 30-year and 15-year mortgages, both unchanged from last week. Fees on the one-year ARM were also unchanged at 0.7 percent.

The "5/1" ARM, set at a fixed rate for five years and adjustable each following year, fell to 5.88 percent from 5.92 percent last week. Fees and points charged on the hybrid mortgage averaged 0.7 percent, up from 0.6 percent.

Freddie Mac is a mortgage finance company chartered by Congress that buys mortgages from lenders and packages them into securities to sell to investors or to hold in its own portfolio.