Mortgage Rates Hit 2015 High

(Chicago Tribune/TNS) —

A spate of positive economic reports helped push average fixed-mortgage rates this week to their highest level of the year.

Still, the cost of borrowing money to buy or refinance a home remains lower than it was a year ago.

The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan this week was 3.87 percent, compared with 3.84 percent last week and 4.12 percent in the same week a year ago, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey.

On a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, the average rate rose to 3.11 percent this week, from 3.05 percent last week. A year ago, that rate stood at 3.21 percent.

In the past week, several reports have painted a generally rosy outlook for the nation’s housing market. Nationally, existing-home sales in April were up 6.1 percent year-over-year and the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index also showed a solid gain in home prices for March. Meanwhile, new home sales jumped 6.8 percent in April to an annualized pace of 517,000 units.

To Read The Full Story

Are you already a subscriber?
Click to log in!