Home rates rise on inflation worries
• | Hawai'i Real Estate Report |
By Martin Crutsinger
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Rates on 30-year mortgages edged up slightly this week, reflecting market worries about inflation.
Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported yesterday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 6.33 percent, up from 6.31 percent last week. Rates have exhibited a seesaw pattern of falling one week and then rising the next week for the past 1 1/2 months.
Analysts attributed the latest increase to last week's unemployment report, which raised worries in financial markets about inflation pressures coming from a tight labor market with a jobless rate at 4.4 percent.
The Freddie Mac mortgage survey showed that rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, averaged 6.04 percent this week, up from 6.02 percent last week.
Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages edged up to 5.55 percent, compared to 5.53 percent last week.
Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 6.08 percent, up from 6.05 percent last week.
The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The 30-year and 15-year mortgages each carried an average nationwide fee of 0.6 point.