Mortgage interest rates rose slightly this week, breaking a 13-week streak of record-breaking lows. Freddie Mac said that the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.55 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.49 percent. Last year the same mortgage would have cost 4.39 percent. The going rate for the 15-year this week was 2.83 percent with an average 0.6 point, up from 2.80 percent last week and 3.54 percent a year ago.
This week's increase is barely a blip when you consider that rates are still as low as they've been in 60 years and are less than half the historical average. And remember that these rates are for those folks with the best credit and a decent downpayment. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's vice president and chief economist, attributed the increase to debt relief for the Eurozone and mixed domestic indicators. Housing news has been mixed this week with Case-Shiller saying that prices were up in most cities during May, but the National Association of Realtors said that pending sales had fallen 1.4 percent in June.
