By Crissinda Ponder • Bankrate.com
Mortgage rates moved slightly higher this week after signs pointed to a much-anticipated debt relief deal for Greece.
But mixed reports from the mortgage industry underscored the housing market’s volatility.
U.S. Treasury bond yields reversed course after falling last week, thanks to better news coming out of Greece. The country and its creditors had reached a bailout deal that would give Greece the financial help it needs to repay its debt and rebuild its economy. The main obstacle left was getting the Greek parliament’s approval.
But now the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, is insisting that Greece receive more help in the form of cuts to its debt load, and the IMF won’t support a relief deal until that happens, The New York Times reported July 15. Negotiations are far from over, which may continue affecting the U.S. and other international markets.
A look at this week’s rates:
The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.17 percent from 4.14 percent, according to Bankrate’s July 15 survey of large lenders. A year ago, it was 4.3 percent. Four weeks ago, the rate was 4.13 percent. The mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.24 discount and origination points. Over the past 52 weeks, the 30-year fixed has averaged 4.04 percent. This week’s rate is 0.13 percentage points higher than the 52-week average.
The benchmark 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.34 percent from 3.28 percent.
The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate jumbo mortgage rate rose to 4.17 percent from 4.07 percent.
The benchmark 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 3.28 percent from 3.16 percent.
