Mortgage rates ticked up this week following the Fed’s latest rate hike, breaking a multi-week downward streak.
Officials at Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate averaged 6.12%, up slightly from 6.09% the week prior.
A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.69%.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5.25% to 5.17%. A year ago, it averaged 2.93%.
Rates are down a full point from their 2022 peak of 7.12%.
The FOMC raised the benchmark rate by a quarter point last week, down from the 50 and 75 BPS increases of most of last year.
Though mortgage rates follow the yield on 10-year treasury bonds, changes to the federal rate can still impact them.
“Following an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve and a surprisingly strong jobs report, mortgage rates increased slightly this week,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist.
Khater said the slight increase may not affect potential homebuyers.
“The 30-year fixed rate continues to hover close to six percent, and interested homebuyers are easing their way back to the market just in time for the spring homebuying season,” Khater added.
Homebuyers are returning to the market despite the rate uptick, Redfin said. Pending home sales posted their smallest decline since September during the four weeks ending February 5, and purchase applications are up. Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index rose to its highest level since September.
New listings are also seeing improvement as tentative home sellers are lured out by increasing demand.
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