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IPFS News Link • Economy - Economics USA

Mortgage rates hit 20-year high of 6.92%:

• https://www.dailymail.co, By MELISSA KOENIG

Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates reached their highest level in more than 20 years this week and are likely to climb even further as the Federal Reserve has all but promised more rate increases in its battle to tamp down persistent inflation.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average key 30-year rate climbed to 6.92 percent from 6.66 percent last week. Some lenders are now even offering rates above 7 percent.

Last year at this time, the rate was 3.05 percent.

The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular among those looking to refinance their homes, meanwhile, rose to 6.09 percent from 5.9 percent last week — the first time it's breached 6 percent since the housing market crash of 2008. 

Rates have not been this high since April 2002, NASDAQ reports, with the 15-year rate hovering at just 2.3 percent last year. 

As a result, Freddie Mac says that borrowers who locked in at the higher end of the rate range during the past year will pay several hundred dollars more than borrowers who signed contracts at the lower end of the range earlier in the year. 

Meanwhile, many prospective buyers have been pushed out of the market as the amount banks are prepared to lend the average American decreased by $100,000, Realtor.com reports.

An American family making the median $71,000 salary can now only afford a home of $343,000 with a standard 20 percent deposit for a 30-year fixed mortgage.


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