Small Change in U.S. Mortgage Rates Near Year-End

---

Heading into the last days of the year, U.S. mortgage rates barely moved, according to Freddie Mac.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.48 percent, up slightly from 4.47 percent last week. At this time last year, the average was 3.35 percent. 

The small change in mortgage rates follows mixed economic reports. 

"Real GDP was revised upwards to 4.1 percent growth in the third quarter of this year," Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac, said in the report. "However, existing-home sales dropped 4.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4,900,000 in November. Also, new home sales fell 2.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 464,000."  

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.52 percent this week, up from 3.51 percent last week. Last year it was 2.65 percent. 

The one-year treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.56 percent this week, down from 2.57 percent last week.