Mortgage Rates Rise to 5-Month High

Mortgage rates started off 2000 by hitting their highest levels since last summer amid fears that the Federal Reserve will boost interest rates next month. The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages climbed to 8.15% this week, up from 8.06% last week, for the eighth consecutive weekly increase, Freddie Mac said. Before August, the last time mortgage rates were this high was April 18, 1997, when they reached 8.16%. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, also were up this week, with an average rate of 7.73%, up from 7.66% last week. On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 6.60% this week, up from 6.56%. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points, which averaged about 1% of the loan amount for all three types of mortgages.