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30-year mortgage rates leap above 4%, first time since October

By
Post Staff Report
Published March 22, 2012, 3:05 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — Interest rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped above four percent this week for the first time since October, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates.

The mortgage averaged 4.08 percent for the week ending March 22, up from 3.92 percent last week and down from 4.81 percent a year ago. It averaged 4.1 percent for the week ending Oct. 27.

“Mortgage rates are catching up with increases in US Treasury bond yields, placing the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate above four percent for the first time since the end of October 2011,” Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac, said in a news release.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.3 percent this week, up from 3.16 percent last week. The mortgage averaged 4.04 percent a year ago.

Rates on five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 2.96 percent this week, up from 2.83 percent last week and down from 3.62 percent a year ago.

“Bond yields rose over the past two weeks in part due to an improving assessment of the state of the economy by the Federal Reserve, better than expected results of commercial bank stress tests and the likelihood of a second bailout for Greece,” Nothaft said.

Consumers also reduced their debt burdens at the end of 2011, bringing their financial obligations ratio to the lowest point since the second quarter of 1994, he said.

But a stronger economy does not mean the days of low mortgage rates are gone, according to Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH associates.

“The Federal Reserve is still committed to keeping mortgage rates low, and nascent optimism about the health of the economy may fade given the concerns about higher gasoline prices and still-troubled European markets,” he said. “However, without the emergence of more downbeat news, it will be difficult for mortgage rates to decline much.”

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage applications fell 7.4 percent for the week ending March 16, compared with the week before.

Also on the housing front, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said prices on a seasonally adjusted basis were flat in January, and December’s initially reported 0.7 percent gain was revised to show just 0.1 percent growth.

To read more, go to MarketWatch