Mortgage rates edged up this week, with the average rate for a 30-year, fixed rate mortgage rising to 2.81%, up from an average of 2.73% last week, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
A year ago at this time, the average rate for a 30-year was 3.49%.
“Reaching its highest point since mid-November, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.81 percent this week,” says Sam Khater, chief economist for Freddie Mac, in a statement. “Economic spending has improved, due to the most recent stimulus, but supply chain shortages are causing downstream inflation, leading to higher mortgage rates. While there are multiple temporary factors driving up rates, the underlying economic fundamentals point to rates remaining in the low 3 percent range for the year.”
For the week ended February 18, the average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 2.21%, up from 2.19% last week but down from 2.99 a year ago.
The average rate for a five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 2.77%, down from 2.79% last week and down from 3.25% a year ago.
Photo: Tierra Mallorca