Average 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in the US edged up four percent for the first time since October last year, according to a new report.
However, the increase is not expected to affect a rebound in the US residential market.
Mortgage lender Freddie Mac said the average rate on 30-year fixed loans climbed to 4.08 percent this week, from 3.88 percent two weeks ago. Frank Nothaft, Chief Economist at Freddie Mac, said the company expects average 30-year fixed-rate loans to increase between 4.25 percent and 4.5 percent by end-2012.
Meanwhile, sales of resale homes declined last month, but remained nine percent higher compared to 2011. Building permits for single-family homes also reached its highest level in February.
Despite all this, rising mortgage rates are “one more reason” why recovery in the US housing market will be “slow and steady rather than speedy and spectacular,” said Capital Economics, a leading macro-economic research firm in the US.
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