Mar. 04, 2010 (FreeRateUpdate.com) – Today’s 30 year fixed mortgage rates are stable at 4.75, where they’ve been all week. 30 year fixed mortgage rates dipped late last week (-0.125) on rising mortgage-backed securities prices almost in sync with the release of Freddie’s weekly survey results which said mortgage rates rose to over 5 percent. Mortgage-backed securities prices drive mortgage rates in the opposite direction. Since the gains in MBS prices, which 
led to a 1/8 improvement in mortgage rates, there’s been just small gains yesterday and today but not enough to move mortgage rates down further, yet. The benchmark 10 year treasury yield, used to forecast 30 year fixed mortgage rates, is at 3.59 down -0.02 on the day as of 8:47 AM PST. The Dow is up slightly, just over 16 points. Jobless Claims data came in better than expected, so did Productivity. Pending Sales of Existing Homes in January fell more than expected, a whopping 7.6 percent.
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Today’s Mortgage Rates According to FreeRateUpdate.com Research of Wholesale Mortgage Lenders’ Rate Sheets
30 year fixed mortgage rates today are at 4.75, for both conforming (standard Freddie MAC FRE and Fannie Mae FNM insured) and FHA (Federal Housing Administration) mortgages. Though conforming and FHA mortgages can be obtained at the same rate with about 1 point origination, FHA loans are far more expensive due to MI and other FHA mandated fees.
5/1 ARM rates are extremely low and also the same for conforming and FHA loans, at 3.625.
Today’s jumbo 30 year fixed rate, for jumbo mortgages exceeding the “jumbo conforming” limits (true jumbo a.k.a. super jumbo), is 5.625. Jumbo 30 year fixed mortgages can be obtained at a slightly better rate of 5.5 by borrowers with an extremely low LTV.
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The rates reported in this article are available to well-qualified consumers with about 1 point origination as verified by FreeRateUpdate.com research of over 2 dozen wholesale lenders’ rate sheets. These rates are well known in the mortgage industry as “par rates” and are typically 1/4 percent below national averages.