US 30-year mortgage rates reach 16-month high

23 Nov, 2016

NEW YORK: The average interest rate on US 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose above 4 percent to a 16-month high, in step with rising US government bond yields, mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac said on Wednesday.

The borrowing cost on 30-year mortgages, the most widely held type of US home loan, averaged 4.03 percent in the week ended Nov. 23, which was the highest since 4.04 percent in the week of July 23, 2015. Last week, 30-year mortgage rates averaged 3.94 percent, it said.

Average rates on 15-year fixed mortgages rose to their highest since early January, while average five-year adjustable loan rates reached their highest since April 2014, according to Freddie Mac.

On Wednesday, benchmark 10-year Treasury yields rose as high as 2.417 percent, a 16-month peak, after a report showing stronger-than-expected data on durable goods orders in October.

Since Donald Trump's US presidential victory on Nov. 8, ten-year Treasury yields have risen more than half a percentage point as traders scale back their bond holdings on worries about rising inflation that could result from tax cuts and lower federal spending during the Trump administration.

Copyright Reuters, 2016

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