Weekly Mortgage Rates Rise, Higher Prices Take a Toll
This article was first published on NerdWallet.com.
With Memorial Day behind us, homebuying season should be in full swing. But with mortgage rates on the high side, purchase and refinance applications are at their lowest levels since early March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. "Borrowers remain sensitive to small increases in rates," Joel Kan, MBA vice president and deputy chief economist, said in a statement.
The average rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 7.02% in the week ending May 30, according to rate information provided to NerdWallet by Zillow. It was an increase of 15 basis points from the previous week. (A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point.)
Mortgage interest rates rose this week despite a dearth of obvious market momentum or attention-grabbing economic headlines. This contrasted with the previous week, when mortgage rates likewise lacked clear motivation but headed downward.
Inflation still stings
Home buyers' hesitancy might not just be about mortgage interest rates running high. Lately, it seems everything feels more expensive, and that could be turning off would-be buyers.
On the one hand, the rate of inflation, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics'...