U.S. 30-year mortgage rates fall in latest week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. 30-year mortgage rates fell slightly in the latest week, according to a survey released on Thursday by home funding company Freddie Mac (FRE.N).

U.S. 30-year mortgage rates dipped to an average of 6.47 percent from 6.52 percent last week, while 15-year mortgages dropped to an average of 6.0 percent from 6.07 percent last week.

One-year adjustable rate mortgages, or ARMs, rose in the week to an average of 5.29 percent from 5.18 percent last week.

Freddie Mac said the "5/1" ARM, set at a fixed rate for five years and adjustable each following year, averaged 5.99 percent compared with 6.02 percent a week earlier.

A year ago, 30-year mortgage rates averaged 6.52 percent, 15-year mortgages 6.18 percent and the one-year ARM 5.60 percent. The 5/1 ARM averaged 6.34 percent.

"Even with the current historically affordable mortgage rates, news continues to show signs of weakening in the housing sector," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, in a statement.

Nothaft cited a report from the Commerce Department this week that housing starts fell 11 percent in July to an annual pace of 965,000, the lowest since March 1991.

Lenders charged an average of 0.7 percent in fees and points on 30-year and 15-year mortgages, unchanged from last week.

Fees and points averaged 0.6 percent on the 5/1 ARM and 0.5 percent on the one-year ARM fees, also both unchanged from last week.

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 Jonathan Oatis)