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Mortgage interest rates held largely steady this week, amid several positive signs pointing to a recovery in the housing market.

Average interest rates on major mortgage types showed little change this, remaining at or near their all-time lows in the weekly Freddie Mac rate survey. Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages were unchanged at an average of 3.66 percent this week, while average rates on 15-year fixed-rate loans fell a single basis point to 2.94 percent.

Both are equal to the lowest rates ever reported for those loan types in the Freddie Mac survey.

Meanwhile, interest rates on 5-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) edged up to 2.79 percent, up from an all-time low of 2.77 percent last week.

Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac chief economist, said the continued low rates should help support a recovering housing market. He noted that both the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the S&P/Case Shiller home price indices showed a 0.5 percent increase in U.S. home prices in April.

Meanhwhile, the Census Bureau reported a 7.6 percent monthly increase in new home sales in May, reaching the highest rate reported in more than two years, while the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported a 5.9 percent gain in pending home sales for the month, also reaching the highest rate since spring 2010.

First published at: http://www.mortgageloan.com/mortgage-rates-holding-steady-9100

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