Mortgage rates continued to rise during the week ended Oct. 31, as the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.78%, up from 3.75% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
Still, mortgage rates are well below where they were a year ago, when the average rate for a 30-year was 4.83%.
“This week marks the third consecutive week of rate increases, which hasn’t happened since April of this year,” says Sam Khater, chief economist for Freddie Mac, in a statement. “That said, purchase activity continues to show strength, indicating obvious homebuyer demand.”
“However, the lack of housing supply remains a major barrier to not just the housing market, but the overall economic recovery,” Khater adds.
The average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.19%, up from 3.18% last week.
A year ago at this time, the average rate for a 15-year was 4.23%.
The average rate for a five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 3.43%, up from 3.40%.
A year ago at this time, the five-year ARM averaged 4.04%.