The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5.79 this week, up from 5.69 percent last week, in the third straight week of increasing rates, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
“Concern that long-term interest rates are too low and comments from (Federal Reserve Board) officials this week helped push mortgage rates higher this week,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “We’ve been expecting this for some time, so the rise in rates for the third consecutive week doesn’t really come as a surprise to the market.
“House values rose nationally at a rate of over 10 percent in 2004, the strongest annual growth since 1979. However, as mortgage rates begin to trend upward we expect the rate of house price appreciation to begin to slow to perhaps 7 or 8 percent nationally this year.”