McLEAN, Va. – Long-term mortgage rates rose again this week, with the average for the 30-year loan moving above 5% for the first time since March.
The 30-year average rose all the way to 5.29% this week, form 4.91% last week; while the average for the 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage climbed to 4.29%, from 4.53%.
Short-term rates also moved higher, with the average for the five-year ARM inching up to 4.85%, from 4.82% last week; and the average for the one-year ARM climbing to 4.81%, from 4.69%.
Mortgage rates "caught up to the recent rise in long-term bond yields this week," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for Freddie Mac.
The rise in rates came after the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, a barometer for interest rates on mortgages and other loans, jumped last week to a six-month high of 3.75 percent. But yields on long-term Treasury debt have since edged back downward following lackluster economic reports.
Mortgage applications fell 35% last week from a week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. Applications to refinance existing loans, which had made up about three quarters of mortgage applications earlier this spring, fell to about 60% of loan volume.
