Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average on the benchmark 30-year rate climbed to 6.73% from 6.65% last week. The average rate a year ago was 3.85%.
The average long-term rate hit 7.08% in the fall – a two-decade high – as the Federal Reserve continued to raise its key lending rate in a bid to cool the economy and quash persistent, four-decade high inflation.
At its first meeting of 2023 in February, the Fed raised its benchmark lending rate by another 25 basis points, its eighth increase in less than a year. That pushed the central bank’s key rate to a range of 4.5% to 4.75%, its highest level in 15 years. Many economists expect at least three more increases before the end of the year.
In remarks to a Senate committee earlier this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell appeared to imply that the Fed would return to larger rates hikes at its next meeting March 21-22. That sent markets tumbling on Tuesday, but Powell seemed to soften his stance on Wednesday during his appearance before the House, saying that Fed policymakers have yet to decide how large an interest rate hike to impose at its meeting in two weeks as it tries to corral high inflation.
