US 30-year mortgage rates rise in latest week

WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - Inflation fears pushed U.S. 30-year mortgage rates up after being unchanged for three weeks, home funding company Freddie Mac (FRE.N) said on Thursday.

Thirty-year mortgage rates rose to an average of 6.03 percent, up from 5.88 percent last week. Fifteen-year mortgages also increased to an average of 5.62 percent from 5.40 percent the prior week, Freddie Mac said.

One-year adjustable rate mortgages, or ARMs, climbed to an average of 5.29 percent from 5.10 percent.

Freddie Mac said the "5/1" ARM, set at a fixed rate for five years and adjustable each following year, averaged 5.68 percent, up from 5.48 percent a week earlier.

A year ago, 30-year mortgage rates averaged 6.16 percent, 15-year mortgages 5.87 percent and the one-year ARM 5.43 percent. The 5/1 ARM averaged 5.88 percent.

"Average rates on mortgages increased across the board this last week as the most recent economic data raised inflationary concerns in the capital markets," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, in a statement.

In a separate report, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Thursday sales of new single-family U.S. homes fell 8.5 percent in March to annual rate of 526,000. The March median sales price for a new home was $227,600, down 13.3 percent from the year-ago level.

Lenders charged an average of 0.3 percent in fees and points on 30- and 15-year mortgages, down from 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent last week, respectively.

They charged 0.5 percent on the 5/1 ARM AND one-year ARM, both down from 0.6 percent a week earlier.

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. (Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Diane Craft)