U.S. Mortgage Rates Rise With 30-Year at a Two-Month High | Bedford Hills Homes
U.S. mortgage rates for 30-year loans rose to a two-month high, increasing borrowing costs for homebuyers as the market’s recovery showed signs of weakening.
The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 4.4 percent this week, up from 4.32 percent, Freddie Mac said today in a statement. The average 15-year rate climbed to 3.42 percent from 3.32 percent, according to the McLean, Virginia-based mortgage-finance company.
Housing demand has cooled as higher prices and mortgage rates cut into affordability and harsh weather in many parts of the U.S. kept would-be buyers away. New-home (NHSLTOT) purchases dropped in February to the lowest level in five months, Commerce Department data showed this week. Sales of existing houses fell last month to a 4.6 million annual rate, the fewest since July 2012, according to the National Association of Realtors.
“The housing numbers have been really disappointing,”Patrick Newport, an economist with IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “Most people were expecting stronger pickup in housing this year that would lift the economy into a stronger growth pattern, and that isn’t happening.”
Contracts (USPHTMOM) to buy previously owned homes fell for an eighth straight month in February, the Realtors group said today.
Price gains have slowed, according to the S&P/Case-Shillerindex of 20 cities. In the year through January, the measure increased 13.2 percent, compared with 13.4 percent in the 12 months through December.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-27/u-s-mortgage-rates-rise-with-30-year-at-a-two-month-high.html?cmpid=yhoo
The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 4.4 percent this week, up from 4.32 percent, Freddie Mac said today in a statement. The average 15-year rate climbed to 3.42 percent from 3.32 percent, according to the McLean, Virginia-based mortgage-finance company.
Housing demand has cooled as higher prices and mortgage rates cut into affordability and harsh weather in many parts of the U.S. kept would-be buyers away. New-home (NHSLTOT) purchases dropped in February to the lowest level in five months, Commerce Department data showed this week. Sales of existing houses fell last month to a 4.6 million annual rate, the fewest since July 2012, according to the National Association of Realtors.
“The housing numbers have been really disappointing,”Patrick Newport, an economist with IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “Most people were expecting stronger pickup in housing this year that would lift the economy into a stronger growth pattern, and that isn’t happening.”
Contracts (USPHTMOM) to buy previously owned homes fell for an eighth straight month in February, the Realtors group said today.
Price gains have slowed, according to the S&P/Case-Shillerindex of 20 cities. In the year through January, the measure increased 13.2 percent, compared with 13.4 percent in the 12 months through December.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-27/u-s-mortgage-rates-rise-with-30-year-at-a-two-month-high.html?cmpid=yhoo
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