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Mortgage Rates Make Biggest Jump in Months

  • March 14th 2013

by Shilpi Paul

Mortgage Rates Make Biggest Jump in Months: Figure 1

Mortgage rates rose rapidly this week, after months of a slow, incremental ascent.

On Thursday, Freddie Mac reported 3.63 percent with an average 0.8 point as the average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Last week, rates were at an average of 3.52 percent.

From Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft:

Fixed mortgage rates rose this week on stronger signs of jobs growth and consumer spending. The economy added 236,000 new workers in February which helped push down the unemployment rate to 7.7 percent. This helped offset the effects of the payroll tax holiday expiration and led to a 1.1 percent increase in retail sales, which was well above the market consensus forecast.

The UrbanTurf Mortgage Rate Disclaimer: The rates reported by Freddie Mac for 30-year mortgages are usually the best rates that the most qualified borrowers can get, so borrowers or those considering refinancing should not necessarily read this news and think that they can go out and get a loan with the quoted interest rate.

Here’s a look at the path of rates since January 2010:

Mortgage Rates Make Biggest Jump in Months: Figure 2

See other articles related to: freddie mac, mortgage rates

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/3.63_rates_make_biggest_jump_up_in_months/6791.

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