WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rates on long-term home loans rose this week. The rate on the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage hit the highest level since May 2017.
Mortgage giant Freddie Mac says the 30-year rate rose to 4.04 percent this week from 3.99 percent last week. The rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners who are refinancing, rose to 3.49 percent from 3.44 percent.
“Inflation is firming. … This means upward pressure on long-term rates, like the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, is building,” Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist, says in a statement. He cites a Federal Reserve report out Wednesday showing that employers in more industries were under pressure to give workers pay raises.
The rate on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages was unchanged this week at 3.46 percent.
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