Rates on Longer-Term Mortgages Edge Higher

The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 7.14% from 7.10% last week, Freddie Mac said. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, crept up to 6.67% this week from 6.61% last week. At the same time last year, rates for 30-year and 15-year mortgages hit a five-year high of 8.64% and 8.31%, respectively.

On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.81%, down from 5.90% last week. Last year, one-year ARMs averaged 7.15%.

These rates do not include add-on fees, known as points, which averaged about 1% of the loan amount for all three types of mortgages.