Mortgage rates are once again above 7% after climbing for weeks.
A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in the U.S. averaged 7.04% as of Thursday, according to Freddie Mac’s survey results, up from last week’s average rate of 6.93%. A year ago at this time, the same type of mortgage averaged 6.60%.
“This is clearly bad news for would-be homebuyers,” said Phil Dean, chief economist at the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. “Higher interest rates translate into higher monthly payments.”…