U.S. mortgage interest rates reach 6.25%, highest level since October 2008

Applied Energetics

21/09/2022 12:00

Sept 21 (Reuters) - The average interest rate on the most
popular U.S. home loan climbed to its highest level since
October 2008, Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) data showed on
Wednesday.
    Rising mortgage rates are increasingly weighing on the
interest-rate-sensitive housing sector as the Federal Reserve
pushes on with aggressively lifting borrowing costs in order to
tame high inflation. 
    The central bank is set to raise interest rates by
three-quarters of a percentage point for a third straight time
later on Wednesday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N30R1F1
    Expectations for Fed tightening have led to a surge in
Treasury yields since the start of this year. The yield on the
10-year note  US10YT=RR  acts as a benchmark for mortgage rates.
    The average contract rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage
rose by 24 basis points to 6.25% for the week ended Sept. 16, a
level not seen since towards the end of the financial crisis and
the Great Recession.
    The MBA also said its Market Composite Index, a measure of
mortgage loan application volume, increased 3.8 percent from a
week earlier, but remained well below last year's levels. Its
Refinance Index jumped 10.4% from the prior week but was down
82.7% compared with one year ago.

 (Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
 ((Lindsay.Dunsmuir@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 384 8221;))