Source: US News —
Mortgage rates jumped higher for the second week in a row as investors worry sticky inflation will cause more hawkish policy decisions from the Federal Reserve. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.73%, from 6.55% the previous week. And the fixed rate on a 15-year mortgage spiked to 6.02%, from 5.75% a week ago.
Here are the current mortgage rates, without discount points unless otherwise noted, as of Feb. 16:
- 30-year fixed: 6.73% (up from 6.55% a week ago).
- 20-year fixed: 6.77% (up from 6.62% a week ago).
- 15-year fixed: 6.02% (up from 5.75% a week ago).
- 10-year fixed: 5.97% (up from 5.77% a week ago).
- 5/1 ARM: 5.43% (up from 5.38% a week ago).
- 7/1 ARM: 5.7% (down from 5.81% a week ago).
- 10/1 ARM: 5.9% (up from 5.87% a week ago).
- 30-year jumbo loans: 6.78% (up from 6.59% a week ago).
- 30-year FHA loans: 5.98% with 0.06 point (up from 5.75% a week ago).
- VA purchase loans: 6.08% with 0.05 point (up from 5.86% a week ago).
“Mortgage rates moved up for the second consecutive week. The economy is showing signs of resilience, mainly due to consumer spending, and rates are increasing. Overall housing costs are also increasing and therefore impacting inflation, which continues to persist.” – Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, in a Feb. 16 statement
Indeed, January’s consumer price index report showed that the annual inflation rate cooled slightly from 6.5% to 6.4%, which is a minimal slowdown. However, from a monthly perspective, consumer prices rose by 0.5% between December and January. While this certainly isn’t an outright reversal of the downward inflation trend, it does show that inflation is a bit sticker than the Fed would like.
The Fed has already signaled that it will continue hiking rates, but at a less aggressive pace than it did in 2022 due to progress on inflation. The next few meetings are expected to raise the rate by 25 basis points, compared with last year’s 75-point hikes.
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