Mortgage Rates Continue ToClimb

McLEAN, Va. - (10/07/05) -- Mortgage rates continued to risethis week, for the fourth week in a row, as concerns over energycosts and the after-affects of Hurricane Katrina start to takehold, according to Freddie Mac. The average for the benchmark30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5.98% this week, from 5.91%last week; while the average for the 15-year, fixed-rate loan movedto 5.54%, form 5.48%. ARM rates also continued to move higher, withthe one-year ARM average increasing to 4.77% this week, from 4.68%;and the five-year ARM average inching up to 5.48%, from 5.44%."Mortgage rates have been rising for the last four weeks oninflation jitters caused in part by extended high energy costs.Still we need more concrete data to predict the direction of thenational economy, including mortgage rates," said Frank Nothaft,chief economist for Freddie Mac. "That said, we do think that theeconomy will continue to grow, albeit at perhaps a slightly slowerpace than in the recent past. Mortgage rates will most likelycontinue to rise with the expansion of the economy."