With the exception of the one-year adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) mortgage rates fell during the week ended October 9 according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) carried an average contract interest rate of 5.94 percent with 0.6 point compared to the previous week when the average was 6.0 percent also with 0.6 point.

15-year FRMs were also down.  Survey participants reported an average rate of 5.63 percent, 15 basis points lower than the week before.  Fees and points were unchanged at 0.6.

Long-term (5 year) Treasury-indexed hybrid ARMs had an average interest rate of 5.90 percent with 0.6 point.  During the week ended October 2 the average rate for the 5-year hybrid was 6.0 percent with 0.6 point.

The change in the one-year adjustable was small.  It increased from 5.12 percent with 0.5 point to 5.15 percent with 0.6 point.

"Longer-term mortgage rates fell for the first time in three weeks, roughly following bond market yields," according to Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.  "Meanwhile, the latest housing market data showed some pickup in home purchase activity in August.  Pending existing home sales in August rose 7.4 percent, reflecting the largest monthly increase since October 2001, and July's figures had an upward revision, according to the National Association of Realtors.  

"More recently mortgage applications for both home purchases and refinancing grew slightly over the week ending October 3^rd, reversing a two-week decline, based on figures from the Mortgage Bankers Association."