The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. edged closer to 7% this week as it climbed to its highest level since July.
The rate rose to 6.84% from 6.78% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. That’s still down from a year ago, when the rate averaged 7.29%.
When mortgage rates increase they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has been mostly rising since sliding to a two-year low of 6.08% in late September.
Elevated mortgage rates and high prices have helped keep the U.S. housing market in a sales slump going back to 2022.
Meanwhile, sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in October, the first annual gain in more than three years, with home shoppers encouraged by easing rates and a pickup in properties on the market.
Existing home sales rose 3.4% last month, from September, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.96 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That matches the annual pace set in July.
Sales rose 2.9% compared with October last year, representing the first year-over-year gain since July 2021. The latest home sales topped the 3.93 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.
Home prices increased on an annual basis for the 16th consecutive month. The national median sales price rose 4% from a year earlier, to $407,200.
“The worst of the downturn in home sales could be over, with increasing inventory leading to more transactions,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.
Still, with just two more months left to go this year, existing home sales are on track for the lowest annual home sales since 1995, Yun said.
The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows.
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