Following the mid-December decision by the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, the mortgage rate in the U.S. hit its highest level in two years, reported Bloomberg.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate reached a median of 4.3 percent while a 15-year fixed was up to an average of 3.52 percent. The 30-year rate was up from 4.16 percent the week previous.
“A week after the only rate hike of 2016, the mortgage industry digested the Fed’s decision,” Sean Becketti, chief economist at mortgage loan company Freddie Mac, said in the statement.
Becketti went on to say that after the Dec. 14 announcement, “the 10-year Treasury yield rose approximately 10 basis points. The 30-year mortgage rate rose 14 basis points to 4.30 percent, reaching highs we have not seen since April 2014.”
According to Bankrate, this marks the eighth week in a row that mortgage rates have climbed. Only three other times since the firm began tracking in 1985 has the 30-year fixed rate gone up for this many consecutive weeks.
The last time rates saw an uninterrupted rise was for nine weeks between September and November 2005.
