Average US long-term mortgage rates climb to 6.29% this week
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped by more than a quarter-point this week to their highest level since 2007, a result of the Federal Reserve’s intensified effort to tamp down decades-high inflation and cool the economy
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped by more than a quarter-point this week to their highest level since 2007 as the Federal Reserve intensified its effort to tamp down decades-high inflation and cool the economy.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year rate climbed to 6.29%, from 6.02% last week. That's the highest its been since August of 2007, a year before a crash in the housing market triggered the Great Recession.
Rapidly rising mortgage rates threaten to sideline even more homebuyers after more than doubling in 2022. Last year, prospective homebuyers were looking at rates well below 3%.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve bumped its benchmark borrowing rate by another three-quarters of a point in an effort to constrain the economy, its fifth increase this year and third consecutive 0.75 percentage point increase.
