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Mortgage Rates Surge Higher | Freddie Mac
By Leslie Cook MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
According to Freddie Mac’s benchmark survey, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is now averaging 7.23%.
This week’s mortgage rates reached a new 2023 high.
The 30-year fixed-rate loan averaged 7.23% for the week ending August 24, according to Freddie Mac’s benchmark survey, an increase of 0.14 percentage points. The rate for the 15-year fixed-rate loan also moved higher and is now averaging 6.55%.
Rates are now nearly 2 percentage points higher than they were a year ago.
Mixed rates keep rising
Economic uncertainty continues to play a major role in the current interest rate movement.
The good news is that inflation seems to be easing, although at a much slower pace than many market watchers, including the Federal Reserve, would like.
On a less positive note, both the jobs market and consumer spending in the U.S. are still showing signs of strength — which will likely mean the Federal Reserve will continue hiking short-term interest rates in its bid to combat inflation.
The Fed’s next move hinges on how the central bank interprets the wave of economic data set to be released before its next meeting in September.
Any sign that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell believes more rate hikes are necessary, “Will likely push Treasury yields — and the mortgage rates that follow them — up even further,” said Orphe Divounguy, senior macroeconomist at Zillow, in a prepared statement.
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Leslie Cook is the Lead Mortgage Reporter covering mortgages and the housing market for Money. She has been a guest on the This Morning with Gordon Deal radio show and served as moderator for ServiceLink's State of Homebuying webinar. Her career started as a business reporter over 30 years ago, covering the computer and human resources beats for Caribbean Business newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She graduated Cum Laude from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania with a bacheloru2019s degree in history.