30-Year Mortgage Rate, 6.74% and 0.5 Points

30-year fixed-rate mortgage, average in Western U.S. for week ending July 19, 2007. Blue line is Freddie Mac forecast made 7/9/2007.

“In a week marked by stock indexes reaching new highs on Wall Street, mortgage rates lingered near the previous week’s level as the latest economic indicators did not affect inflation expectations significantly,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “June’s core producer price index inched up higher than market expectations, pushing the year-over-year growth rate to 1.8 percent, while the core consumer price index held steady at a 2.2 percent annual growth rate.

“The most recent statistics suggest that the housing market has yet to reach a trough. Although June’s housing starts unexpectedly rose to 1.47 million units, construction of one-unit houses still saw a decline of 0.2 percent: At 1.15 million units, it was the slowest pace since January. Building permits fell by 7.5 percent last month to the lowest level since June 1997.”