4.51: Mortgage Rates Continue to Move Up

• July 11, 2013

by Shilpi Paul

Mortgage rates continued their trend upwards this week.

On Thursday morning, Freddie Mac reported 4.51 percent with an average 0.8 point as the average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Last week, rates dipped to 4.29 percent after popping well above 4 percent the previous week.

From Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft on today’s rates:

June’s strong employment led to more market speculation that the Federal Reserve will reduce future bond purchases causing bond yields to rise and mortgage rates followed. The economy gained 195,000 jobs in June, above the market consensus forecast, while revisions to the prior two months added 70,000 on top of that. Moreover, hourly wages rose by 2.2 percent over the last 12 months and represented the largest annual increase in nearly two years.

Two weeks ago, UrbanTurf conducted a survey of its readers who were on the hunt for a new house to find out if the rising rates would halt the search. The results were revealing. Of the several hundred buyers who answered the poll, 38 percent said that they would be putting their search on hold.

All signs point to rates remaining above 4 percent for the foreseeable future, so it is interesting to see how many buyers are considering putting their search on hold. We suppose that’s what almost two years of sub-4 percent rates will do to a buyer’s psyche.

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.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/4.51_mortgage_rates_continue_to_move_up/7304