Us fixies fighting back

Fixed rate mortgages have risen in the United States for the first time in five weeks,  figures released Thursday by Freddie Mac indicated...

The Primary Mortgage Market Survey results showed 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged 5.68 percent with an average of 0.4 points for the week ending Jan. 31.

Thirty-year fixed rate mortgages for week ending Jan. 24 averaged 5.48 percent. In 2007, at the end of January, the rate stood at 6.34 percent.

The 15-year fixed rate average rose from 4.95 percent for the week ending Jan. 24 to 5.17 percent with an average 0.4 points for the week ending Jan. 31, the report said.

"Mortgage rates ended their five-week descent this week with average rates on 30-year and 15-year fixed rate mortgages coming up about 0.2 percentage points," said Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft.

"This increase completely erased the previous week's decline," he said.