Rates Up Slightly for Fixed Mortgages

Fixed mortgage rates climbed for a second consecutive week, Freddie Mac said Thursday.

The average rate for a 30-year loan rose two basis points from last week, to 4.86%, Freddie said. The average 15-year fixed rate climbed one basis point, to 4.52%.

"It could've been worse," said Donald Rissmiller, the chief economist at Strategas Research Partners in New York. "That's still pretty good. To the extent the Fed is watching mortgage rates, which they are, this data is OK."

A Federal Reserve program to buy as much as $1.25 trillion of mortgage-backed securities helped push rates to a record low, at 4.78%, twice in April.

The rate was 5.1% at the beginning of the year.

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