Mortgage rates skyrocketed again this week, nearing 7% as the affordability crisis escalates, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.
Freddie’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey found that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.70%, up from 6.29% just last week.
A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.01%.
“The uncertainty and volatility in financial markets is heavily impacting mortgage rates. Our survey indicates that the range of weekly rate quotes for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has more than doubled over the last year. This means that for the typical mortgage amount, a borrower who locked in at the higher end of the range would pay several hundred dollars more than a borrower who locked in at the lower end of the range,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist.
“The large dispersion in rates means it has become even more important for homebuyers to shop around with different lenders.”
The typical homebuyer’s monthly mortgage payment is up 15%– a whopping $337– just in the last six weeks to a new high of $2,547. Single-family homes are less affordable compared to historical averages in 99% of U.S. counties.
“Homeownership remains largely unaffordable for the majority of homebuyers in the majority of markets across the country,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM.
“Home price appreciation has slowed dramatically in most markets… But mortgage rates have risen more rapidly and dramatically than they have in several decades, and as a result, a monthly mortgage payment today is 35-45% higher than a year ago, making affordability too much of a challenge for many would-be buyers.”
Additional findings from Thursday’s report:
- 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.96% with an average 1.3 point.
- A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.28%.
- 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 5.30%, with an average 0.4 point.
- A year ago at this time, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.48%.