After reaching historic lows earlier this month, mortgage rates climbed for the second week in a row, Freddie Mac announced Thursday in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.65 percent – up from 3.36 last week.
“Mortgage rates rose again this week as lenders increased prices to help manage skyrocketing refinance demand. This is expected to be a short-term phenomenon as lenders work through their backlog,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “On the purchase front, daily loan purchase applications were rising as of mid-February but started to decline last Friday.”
The survey found:
- The 30-year fixed rate of 3.65 percent – with an average 0.7 point – was still significantly lower than last year’s rate of 4.28 percent.
- The 15-yar fixed rate mortgaged averaged 3.06 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from 2.77 percent last week. The average was 3.71 percent last year.
- The 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.11 percent with an average 0.2 point, up from last week’s 3.01 point and down from last year’s 3.84 percent.
The higher rates align with the fact that mortgage applications dropped 8.4 percent last week.