Arizona Real Estate Notebook

6.28% and 0.4 points - 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, average in Western U.S. for week ending October 5, 2006. Blue line is Freddie Mac forecast made 9/8/2006.

“Mortgage rates fell to a six-month low this past week, and, not surprisingly, home refinancing rose 18 percent last week, accounting for almost half of all mortgage applications,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “This is due both to the recent decline in mortgage rates and to homeowners who are refinancing ARMs rather than waiting for them to reset in the future when rates may be higher.