Fixed-rate loan interest held firm in June at 7.65%; average purchase price surged.

The Federal Housing Finance Board reported last week that the average effective interest rate on fixed-rate mortgages was little changed in June at 7.65%.

A month earlier, the rate had been 7.64%. The effective rate includes the contract interest rate plus points charged by the originator.

The agency also said, the national average purchase, price for a one-family house was 146,00.0, up sharply from $133,600 in May but about the same as the average for January through April.

The average was higher for newly built homes, $185,600. This average was up sharply from $153,100 a month earlier. The board said this was largely because of a rash of financings of new homes by commercial banks.

Prices in California and Hawaii were generally the highest in the country, while various metro areas in the Middle West showed the lowest.

Loan-to-value ratios have been little changed over the last year, with the figure for June at 77.9%, the same as it was at the end of 1992.

A key index for adjustable-rate mortgages, the national average contract rate for previously occupied homes, fell to 7.02% in June, down by 6 basis points for the month.

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