30-Year Mortgage Rates Jump to 7-Week High

The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages recorded its biggest increase in 2 1/2 years this week, jumping to a seven-week high of 6.9%, from a 31-year low of 6.49% last week, Freddie Mac said. The increase, nearly half a percentage point, is the steepest since March 1996 and costs a homeowner, waiting to lock in the rate on a $100,000 loan, about $33 a month. It returned the average to its level at the end of August, when it began falling precipitously as stock investors, shaken by the spillover from the world financial crisis, shifted money to safer investments. Still, the jump left the average below 7% for the 18th consecutive week, a level most would-be home buyers would consider affordable. The average rate on 15-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, shot to 6.58% this week, from 6.15% last week. However, the average on one-year adjustable-rate loans edged down from 5.36% to 5.35%, the lowest since February 1996. The averages do not include add-on fees known as points.