3.98: Mortgage Rates Jump Back Up; New Home Sales Fall

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3.98: Mortgage Rates Jump Back Up; New Home Sales Fall

January 26, 2012
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After three straight weeks of record setting lows, mortgage rates jumped back up today.

This morning, Freddie Mac reported 3.98 percent with an average 0.7 point as the average on a 30-year fixed mortgage. Rates hit a record low of 3.88 percent last week and have been below 4 percent now for eight consecutive weeks.

From Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft:

Fixed mortgage rates ticked up this week as the housing market ended 2011 on a high note. New construction of one-family homes rose 4.4 percent in December to an annualized rate of 470,000, the most since April 2010. Existing home sales increased 5.0 percent at the end of the year to 4.61 million houses, the largest amount since May 2010.

At the same time that the rates were announced, not-so-good news came from the Commerce Department, which reported that new home sales fell unexpectedly in December by 2.2 percent. Sales were at an annual rate of 307,000, below the 325,000 number that economists had expected.

Here’s a look at the path of rates since last January: