30-Year Mortgages Stay at 7.23% for 2nd Week

The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages stayed at 7.23% for a second straight week, the highest level since November 1997, mortgage company Freddie Mac said. So far this year, rates have fluctuated between 6.74% at the end of January and the current 7.23%. Fifteen-year mortgages averaged 6.84% this week, up only slightly from 6.83% a week earlier, Freddie Mac said. On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.73%, down from 5.76% the previous week. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points, which averaged at or just over 1% of the loan amount for all three types of mortgages.