Mortgage rates race higher, hitting highs not seen since Dec. 2018

Mortgage rates' rapid rise continued unabated this week.

According to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average climbed to 4.67% with an average 0.8 point. (A point is a fee paid to a lender equal to 1% of the loan amount. It is in addition to the interest rate.) It was 4.42% a week ago and 3.18% a year ago. The last time the 30-year average was this high was in December 2018.

Freddie Mac, the federally chartered mortgage investor, aggregates rates from around 80 lenders across the country to come up with weekly national averages. The survey is based on home purchase mortgages. Rates for refinances may be different. It uses rates for high-quality borrowers with strong credit scores and large down payments. Because of the criteria, these rates are not available to every borrower.

The 15-year fixed-rate average jumped to 3.83% with an average 0.8 point. It was 3.63% a week ago and 2.45% a year ago. The five-year adjustable rate average rose to 3.5% with an average 0.3 point. It was 3.36% a week ago and 2.84% a year ago.

"Mortgage rates increased significantly last week," Paul Thomas, vice president of capital markets at Zillow, said. "Markets are anticipating more aggressive actions by the Federal Reserve, based on comments from many officials after the March [Fed] meeting. Consensus is now predicting several 50 basis point hikes to the federal funds rate this year, which will lead to further upward pressure on mortgage rates."

The rapid rise in the 30-year fixed rate average has been jarring to home buyers and homeowners looking to refinance. It has been a while since rates have moved up that much that quickly. At the start of the year, the 30-year fixed average was 3.22%. Now it is more than a percentage point and a half or 155 basis points higher just three months later. (A...