Rates Make Slight Increase After Dropping to Record Lows

Freddie Mac's ""Primary Mortgage Market Survey"":http://www.freddiemac.com/pmms/ (PMMS) showed surprisingly little life this week following the better-than-expected jobs report for September.

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While rates did rise for the week ending October 11, most increases were mild. The 30-year fixed average posted the largest growth, rising to 3.39 percent (0.7 point) from 3.36 percent-a record low the week before.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also saw an increase, averaging 2.70 percent (0.6 point), up from 2.69 percent previously. For the second week in a row, the 15-year fixed average was lower than the average for a 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM). Until last week's survey, the last time the 15-year fixed dipped lower than the 5-year ARM was in October 2009.

Meanwhile, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.73 percent (0.6 point), up from 2.72 percent before, while the 1-year ARM edged up to 2.59 percent (0.4 point) from 2.57 percent previously.

""Bankrate's"":http://www.bankrate.com/ survey saw more dramatic increases, with the 30-year fixed hiking up seven basis points to 3.59 percent. At the same time, the 15-year fixed slid up to 2.84 percent.

The 5/1-year ARM inched up, averaging 2.68 percent for the week.

With the ""Federal Reserve"":http://www.federalreserve.gov/ working to keep rates down and a slowly recovering economy propping them up, the vast majority of experts-67 percent-interviewed by Bankrate ""anticipate little to no change in the coming week"":http://www.bankrate.com/news/rate-trends/mortgage.aspx.

""A lower-than-expected unemployment rate in the U.S. and a lack of bad news out of Europe were the catalysts for the slight rise in rates,"" said Michael Becker, a mortgage banker for ""WCS Funding Group"":http://happymortgage.com/. ""Looking forward, QE3 and weaker third-quarter earnings keep bond yields and mortgage rates from rising. But it's also hard to see them dropping from current low levels. I expect mortgage rates to hold steady in the coming week.""

Market expert Dan Green, one of the 19 percent minority who expect rates to fall again, offered much simpler reasoning for his forecast.

""Don't fight the Fed,"" Green told Bankrate. ""QE3 for the win.""