30-year mortgage rate nears 7 percent

By Holden Lewis • Bankrate.com


Money costs a lot more today than it did just three months ago. The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is flirting with 7 percent and is almost half of a percentage point higher than it was at the end of March.

The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 10 basis points to 6.93 percent, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point. The mortgages in this week's survey had an average total of 0.34 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was 5.61 percent; four weeks ago, it was 6.72 percent. The last time the mortgage index was higher was April 18, 2002, when it was 6.96 percent.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 12 basis points to 6.57 percent. The 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage rose 10 basis points to 6.59 percent.