By Breck Dumas | Fox Business
Mortgage rates continued their upward climb this week, further hindering demand in the housing market amid elevated rates and high home prices.
Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage surged to 6.44% from last week’s reading of 6.32%. The average rate on a 30-year loan was 7.63% a year ago.
“The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased for the third consecutive week, moving closer to 6.5%,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.