Freddie Mac (FRE), the nation’s second-largest mortgage buyer, released its weekly mortgage rates reports on Thursday, showing the highest U.S. mortgage rates for the year.
The weekly survey reported the highest rate since December with the national 30-year average rate of 5.29%, up 0.38 percentage points from last week’s 4.91% and down from the one-year ago average of 6.09%. The reported nationwide fee averaged 0.7 point last week for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and 15-year mortgages.
The "30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates caught up to the recent rise in long-term bond yields this week to reach a 25-week high," said Frank Nothaft, the McLean, Va.-based mortgage buyer’s vice president and chief economist, in a written statement.
Freddie Mac’s survey Thursday said the 15-year fixed-rate loan surged to a 4.79% average, up 0.26 percentage points from last week’s 4.53% and down from the year-ago 5.65%. The five-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage showed an averaged 4.85%, a small upward climb of 0.12 percentage points from the 4.82% average a week ago and down from last year’s 5.51%. The nationwide fee averaged 0.6 point for five-year and one-year adjustable rate loans.
The publicly traded company operates under a federal charter and works with mortgage lenders to help people get lower housing costs and better access to home financing.
