Mortgage Rates Are Headed Up

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate home loan hit 4.67% yesterday, according to mortgage-finance giant Freddie Mac, the weekly figure’s highest reading since December 2018.

🏠 By the numbers…

• The average 30-year fixed rate was 4.42% to start the week. At the beginning of the year, it was 3.22%.
• Rising rates are reducing home-loan refinancings, which drove a lot of the mortgage market’s boom the past two years. Refinancings are expected to make up 33% of mortgage originations this year, down from 59% in 2021.
• About four million Americans could lower their monthly mortgage payments through a refinancing this past February, down from around 16 million a year ago, according to mortgage-data firm Black Knight.

👀 Looking ahead… Expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates several more times this year to control inflation should continue to drive up mortgage rates, the WSJ reports.

+One interesting thing: Higher mortgage rates typically slow home-buying activity. But the number of applications submitted by potential home buyers has risen for three of the past four weeks, per the Mortgage Bankers Association.