File - Carpenters work on a home on Sept. 19, 2023, in Marshall, N.C. On Thursday, May 30, 2024, Freddie Mac reports on this week’s average U.S. mortgage rates. LOS ANGELES — The average rate on a 30-year mortgage moved back above 7% this week, a setback for home shoppers a time when the U.S. housing market is already slowing under the strain of elevated home loan borrowing costs and rising prices.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose this week, pushing up the average rate to 6.36% from 6.24% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.18%, Freddie Mac said. The Fed has been holding the federal funds rate at the highest level in more than two decades in hopes of grinding down on the economy enough to get high inflation fully under control. The central bank has maintained it doesn’t plan to cut interest rates until it has greater confidence that price increases are slowing sustainably to its 2% target.
The overall uptick in rates have been an unwelcome development for home shoppers in the midst of the spring homebuying season, traditionally the busiest time of the year for home sales. On average, more than one-third of all homes sold in a given year are purchased between March and June.as home shoppers contended with rising mortgage rates and prices. Sales of new homes also slowed in April, falling 7.7% from a year earlier, as borrowing costs slowed.
“The impact of escalating interest rates throughout April dampened homebuying, even with more inventory in the market,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist. “But the Federal Reserve’s anticipated rate cut later this year should lead to better conditions, with improved affordability and more supply.”
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