Mortgage Rates Rise From Four-Year Low

Mortgage interest rates rose but remained a hair under 7%. The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.99% this week from 6.89% last week, the lowest since October 1993, Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, said. Rates have been on the decline since April 1997, when the 30-year average hit 8.18% just after the Federal Reserve Board tightened monetary policy. The decline has spurred a wave of mortgage refinancings, which economists said would put cash in homeowners’ pockets. Fifteen-year mortgages averaged 6.56% this week, up from 6.46% last week. On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.53%, down from 5.56%. The rates do not include points.