Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 6, 1994 TAG: 9405060147
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
WASHINGTON - The average interest rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 8.53 percent this week, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said Thursday.
It was the first time since June 12, 1992 - when the average was 8.54 percent - that the rate has been above 8.5 percent.
This week's average was up from 8.32 percent the previous week. The average hit a 25-year low of 6.74 percent in October and in recent weeks has been between 11/2 and 13/4 percentage points above that.
On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.25 percent, up from 5.15 percent last week.
Fifteen-year mortgages averaged 8.03 percent this week, up from 7.85 percent a week earlier.
- Associated Press
Lottery prize: a ring-a-ding-ding
Four Florida newspapers were among the winners of an unusual lottery held here Thursday, in which Southern Bell Telephone Co. chose recipients of some of the handiest phone numbers in telephony.
The three-digit numbers, similar to the 911 people can call for emergencies, were eagerly sought by companies willing to pay $10,000 a month for easy-to-dial numbers that customers can call for quick information such as sports scores, stock quotations or movie listings.
The winners included The Miami Herald, The Sun Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale and The Orlando Sentinel. Organizers said the lottery was the first bulk distribution of three-digit numbers in the United States.
- The New York Times
by CNB