Average long-term US mortgage rate climbs for fourth straight week to highest level since November
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level since late November, another setback for home shoppers in what’s traditionally the housing market’s busiest time of the year
LOS ANGELES — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level since late November, another setback for home shoppers in what's traditionally the housing market's busiest time of the year.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose to 7.17% from 7.1% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.43%.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose this week, lifting the average rate to 6.44% from 6.39% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.71%, Freddie Mac said.
When mortgage rates rise, they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting how much they can afford at a time when the U.S. housing market remains constrained by relatively few homes for sale and rising home prices.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has now increased four weeks in a row. The latest uptick brings it to its highest level since November 30, when it was 7.22%.
After climbing to a 23-year high of 7.79% in October, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage had remained below 7% since early December amid expectations that inflation would ease enough this year for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting its short-term interest rate.
Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including how the bond market reacts to the Fed’s interest rate policy and the moves in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.
Home loan rates have been mostly drifting higher
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