After three weeks of holding steady, mortgage rates were back on the rise this week, as the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped to 3.81%, up from an average of 3.75% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
A year ago at this time, the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 4.52%.
The average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.23%, up from 3.22%.
A year ago at this time, the average rate for a 15-year was 4.0%.
The average rate for a five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 3.48%, up from 3.46%.
A year ago at this time, the average rate for a five-year ARM was 3.87%.
Sam Khater, chief economist for Freddie Mac, says the increase in rates was “driven by continued improvement in consumer spending and partly due to optimism around a forthcoming cut in short term interest rates, which should provide support for business and investor sentiment.”
“Despite this slight increase in rates, homebuyers are taking advantage of the multi-year low rates in droves, which is evident in the consistently higher refinance and purchase application volumes,” Khater says. “The improvement in housing demand should provide sufficient momentum for the housing market and economy during the rest of the year.”