Arizona Real Estate Notebook

6.17% and 0.4 points - 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, average in Western U.S. for week ending December 28, 2006. Blue line is Freddie Mac forecast made 12/07/2006.

“Mortgage rates edged up over the week following news of a jump in consumer spending in November,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Financial markets were concerned that stronger spending could keep inflation elevated. These worries were further compounded by the releases of new and existing home sales for the same month, which both exceeded market forecasts and caused Treasury bond yields to continue to rise. On a positive note, both new and existing home inventories in November fell from recent highs suggesting the excess supply of homes on the market may be normalizing towards historical trends.”