U.S mortgage rates soar to highest in more than 23 years

Applied Energetics

25/10/2023 13:08

Oct 25 (Reuters) - The interest rate on the most popular
U.S. home loan last week jumped to the highest since September
2000, marking its seventh straight weekly increase and driving
mortgage applications to a 28-year low, a survey showed on
Wednesday.
    The 7.9% average contract rate for a 30-year fixed-rate
mortgage during the week ended Oct. 20 was up 20 basis points
from the prior week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. 
    "Mortgage activity continued to stall, with applications
dipping to the slowest weekly pace since 1995," MBA vice
president and deputy chief economist Joel Kan said. "These
higher mortgage rates are keeping prospective homebuyers out of
the market and continue to suppress refinance activity." 
    The cost of borrowing to buy a house has risen even as the
Federal Reserve has put its inflation-fighting rate-hike
campaign on pause, after lifting its benchmark policy rate from
near zero in March 2022 to 5.25-5.50% in July of this year.
    The 30-year fixed rate mortgage is up 81 basis points since
then, tracking a similar rise in the yield on the 10-year
Treasury note, the main benchmark for longer-term U.S. borrowing
rates.

 (Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Toby Chopra)
 ((Ann.Saphir@thomsonreuters.com; 312-593-8342;
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