Both Freddie Mac and the Mortgage Bankers� Association surveys for the weeks ending June 23 and 24 respectively showed mortgage rates backing off from their increases the previous week.

The Freddie Mac survey reported the 30-year fixed at 5.57 percent compared to 5.63 percent the previous week and the 15-year fixed at 5.16 down .06 percent from the week ending June 16. The 5/1 ARM was down five basis points to 5.05 percent and the 1-year ARM made a tiny adjustment from 4.25 percent to 4.23 percent. Fees and points, however, were up .1 in every category.

If one were to graph the nearly six months worth of weekly reports for 2005 the result would look like a piece of rick-rack. While the ups and downs have not been quite that even, the end result, particularly for the fixed rates, has been basically a flat line. In spite of the 30-year spiking as high as 6.04 and the 15 to 5.58 percent in late March, fixed rates have returned to levels lower than those at the first of the year when the 30-year was at 5.77 percent and the 15-year was 5.21.

Even the ARMs have not moved upward with anywhere near the strength that was expected at the end of 2004. The 5/1 ARM which hit a high of 5.33 in early April is up only .02 percent and the 1-year is up .13 percent.

All four of the loan products tracked by Freddie have traded within a � point range for the entire year and the 1-year ARM has moved up and down within a 1/4 point range.

Meanwhile, the MBA survey reports the 30-year fixed decreasing to 5.47 percent from 5.63 and the 15-year decreased to 5.06 percent from 5.24. MBA says that this is the lowest point for the 30 year fixed rate mortgage since March 2004. The MBA ARM also dropped slightly, to 4.42 percent from 4.46 percent the previous week.

Mortgage application volume was down slightly from the previous week on both a seasonally adjusted and unadjusted level but, continuing the recent trend, was up substantially over the same week in 2004 � 34.2 percent.

The share of mortgagors choosing ARMs continued to drop, hitting 30 percent, the lowest level since April of last year.