Rates on 30-year mortgages edge up, but remain below 5 percent as Fed prepares exit

Mortgage rates still below 5 percent

WASHINGTON — Mortgage rates held below the 5 percent threshold for the third straight week as the Federal Reserve prepares to end a program that has kept rates near record lows.

The mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage edged up to 4.96 percent this week from 4.95 percent a week earlier.

Rates dropped to a record low of 4.71 percent in December and have hovered around 5 percent since, kept down by the Fed’s $1.25 trillion program to buy up mortgage securities issued by Freddie Mac and sibling company Fannie Mae.

The Fed said this week that this program would end on March 31, as expected. But some analysts fear that once the program ends, mortgage rates could rise.