Interest rates tick higher for second straight week

Mortgage interest rates rose slightly for the second week in a row with 30-year, fixed-rate loans sitting at 4.86 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey.

“Fixed mortgage rates rose slightly for a second week in a row, but continue to remain quite low,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac. “Low rates have benefited from relatively benign inflation reports.”

Nothaft said inflation as measured by the 12-month growth in the core price index for consumer spending. This is a metric preferred by the Federal Reserve and is hovering near the lowest pace since 1960 when the data compilation began.

Other rates:

15-year fixed – averaged 4.09 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.04 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year averaged 4.39 percent.

5-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) – averaged 3.70 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.62 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 4.10 percent.

1-year Treasury-indexed ARM – averaged 3.26 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.21 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 4.05 percent.