Benchmark mortgage rate edges up to 3.52 percent
BY Staff and Wire reports
Friday, March 08, 2013
3/08/13 at 4:58 AM
The nation's benchmark mortgage rate was little changed this week, hovering near its historic low.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average 30-year, fixed-rate home loan is going for 3.52 percent, up slightly from 3.51 percent last week.
That's near the 3.31 percent rate reached in November, the lowest on records dating to 1971.
The low rates have boosted home sales. Home prices in January were up 9.7 percent from a year earlier, the biggest annual gain since April 2006.
