Mortgage rates jump to 2017 high
Rates for home loans spiked along with a surge in Treasury yields as Federal Reserve officials guided market expectations toward an interest rate increase next week, mortgage provider Freddie Mac said Thursday.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.21%, up 11 basis points during the week. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.42%, up from 3.32%.
The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.23%, up from 3.14% last week.
“For the first time in weeks, the 30-year mortgage rate moved with Treasury yields and jumped 11 basis points,” Freddie Chief Economist Sean Becketti said in a release. “The strength of Friday’s employment report and the outcome of next week’s FOMC meeting are likely to set the direction of next week’s survey rate.”
The 10-year Treasury yield TMUBMUSD10Y, 0.11% , which the 30-year mortgage loosely tracks, rose about 10 basis points during the week.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch are forecasting a strong nonfarm payrolls number on Friday, and most investors expect the Fed will raise rates by another quarter-percent next week.
While average rates are the highest so far in 2017, they’re still lower than long-time averages. And the 11-basis point jump during the week is a bit bigger than usual, but not unheard-of. Rates surged 14 basis points one week last December in the wake of the presidential election.
This well written article regarding the mortgage rates hikes by: Andrea Riquier