Mortgage Rates Continue Edging Upward

The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages is 7.96% this week, the highest level since mid-August, and up from 7.93% last week, Freddie Mac reported. According to the mortgage company’s weekly survey, this week’s average is the highest since the week ending Aug. 13, when the rate was 8.15%, the high for the year. Rates hit a low for 1999 of 6.74% at the end of January. Fifteen-year mortgages averaged 7.57% this week, up from 7.53% last week. On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 6.35%, up from 6.30% last week. The rates do not include points.