WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rates on 30-year mortgages rose again this week, climbing to the highest level in more than nine months, reflecting more concerns about how the Federal Reserve will respond to higher inflation pressures.
Mortgage company Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.45% this week. That was up from 6.42% last week.
It was the highest level for 30-year mortgages since they averaged 6.46% for the week of Sept. 9. It marked the fifth consecutive weekly increase and the fifth week that they have been above 6%.
Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500), said financial markets are uncertain about what the Fed will do in response to rising inflation pressures. On Wednesday, the central bank brought its aggressive campaign of interest rate cuts to a halt, leaving the federal funds rate unchanged at 2%.
Fed officials expressed heightened concern about inflation and signaled that their next move would likely be a rate increase.
Financial markets are debating about when Fed rate increases might begin, with some worried about a possible hike this fall but others believing that any rate increases will not occur until after the November election.
In a speech earlier this month, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the Fed would "strongly resist" any tendency for Americans' expectations about price increases to become unsettled.
Other types of mortgages showed increases this week, according to the Freddie Mac survey.
Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 6.04%, up from 6.02% last week.
The five-year adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 5.99%, up from 5.89% last week. The rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 5.27%, compared to 5.19% last week.
The housing market is facing numerous headwinds, from slumping prices, which are keeping potential buyers on the fence, to rising mortgage defaults, which are dumping more homes on an already glutted market.
The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for 30-year, 15-year and one-year mortgages averaged 0.6 of a point. The fee on five-year mortgages averaged 0.7 of a point.
A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 6.67%, 15-year mortgage rates averaged 6.34%, five-year adjustable-rate mortgages were at 6.30% and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.65%.
