US 30-year mortgage rates fall in latest week

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - U.S. 30-year mortgage rates fell slightly in the latest week, home funding company Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday.

Thirty-year mortgage rates dipped to an average of 5.85 percent from 5.87 percent a week earlier, but 15-year mortgages averaged 5.34 percent, compared with 5.27 percent last week.

One-year adjustable rate, or ARM mortgages, also rose, to 5.24 percent in the week from 5.15 percent a week earlier.

Freddie Mac said the "5/1" ARM, set at a fixed rate for five years and adjustable each following year, averaged 5.67 percent, up from 5.56 percent the prior week.

"Long-term mortgage rates were mixed, but relatively unchanged in the past week as the latest economic indicators came in much as expected," Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a statement.

Earlier this week the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose 2.9 percent in February to a 5.03 million-unit annual rate. On Wednesday, however, the Commerce Department said the pace of sales of new single-family U.S. homes fell 1.8 percent to an annual rate of 590,000 in February.

A year ago, 30-year mortgage rates averaged 6.16 percent, 15-year mortgages 5.86 percent and the one-year ARM 5.43 percent. The 5/1 ARM averaged 5.88 percent.

Lenders charged an average of 0.4 percent in fees and points on 30- and 15-year mortgages, both down from 0.5 percent last week. They charged 0.6 percent on the 5/1 ARM, down from 0.9 percent the prior week. Fees and points charged on the one-year ARM also fell to an average of 0.5 percent from 0.8 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. (Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Dan Grebler)