Mortgage rates ticked up slightly this week but remain in the narrow band they’ve been stuck in since early October.
The average 30-year mortgage rate was 6.26% this week through Wednesday, according to Freddie Mac data, up from 6.24% a week earlier. The average 15-year mortgage rate rose to 5.54%, from 5.49%.
“Mortgage rates remain near their lowest level in more than a year, but affordability continues to be strained,” Hannah Jones, Realtor.com’s senior economic research analyst, said in a statement.
Mortgage rates have been slowly moving up from year-to-date lows amid a dearth of economic data stemming from the government shutdown, and growing market conviction that the Fed may opt to hold benchmark interest rates steady at its December meeting.
But despite the shutdown, which stalled closings for buyers using certain government-backed mortgages or receiving coverage from the National Flood Insurance Program, lower rates last month brought some buyers off the sidelines. Existing home sales jumped 1.2% in October from a month earlier, according to National Association of Realtors data released Thursday.
Since then, there are signs that demand is slowing. Mortgage applications for refinancing and purchases both fell last week amid slightly higher rates. Refinancing applications dropped 7% through Friday from a week earlier, while purchases were down 1%, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data. The MBA pegged mortgage rates through Friday at a slightly higher 6.37%.
“Mortgage rates increasing to the highest level in a month led to a slump in borrower demand last week,” MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit said in a statement, adding that the trade group expects mortgage rates to stay around 6.4% for the remainder of the year.
Claire Boston is a Senior Reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance.