Headline Roundup • October 26th, 2022
US Fixed Mortgage Rate Hits 21-Year High
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The U.S. fixed mortgage rate has reached a 21-year-high, rising to 7.16% for the week ending October 21. Meanwhile, mortgage applications declined 1.7% over the same week.
Key Quotes: "Mortgage rates increased for the 10th consecutive week, with the 30-year fixed rate reaching 7.16 percent, the highest rate since 2001," said Joel Kan, Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association.
For Context: The Federal Reserve has been pursuing an aggressive path of interest rate hikes to curb high inflation, and is expected to raise rates again for a fourth straight time at their next policy meeting in early November. The actions have impacted the interest-rate-sensitive housing sector, and mortgage rates have more than doubled in 2022.
How The Media Covered It: The rise in the fixed mortgage rate was covered across the political spectrum, with many sources noting the impact of Federal Reserve actions.
Featured Coverage of this Story
REUTERS/Octavio Jones
The average interest rate on the most popular U.S. home loan rose to its highest level since 2001 as tightening financial conditions weigh on the housing sector, data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) showed on Wednesday.
The average contract rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose by 22 basis points to 7.16% for the week ended Oct. 21 while the MBA's Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, fell 1.7% from a week earlier. Mortgage application activity is at its slowest pace since 1997.
Mortgage rates...
Yahoo News
Sales of new US homes fell in September, resuming a downtrend as decades-high mortgage rates push would-be buyers out of the market.
Purchases of new single-family homes decreased 10.9% to a 603,000 annualized pace following an unexpected gain in August, government data showed Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 580,000 rate.
The figures reflect a slide in housing demand as the Federal Reserve aggressively boosts interest rates to combat the worst inflation in a generation. Mortgage rates rose to 7.16% last week, the...
iStock
The continued rise in mortgage rates is putting a wet blanket over several areas of the mortgage market.
Requests for mortgage applications declined 1.7% from the prior week, according to the weekly survey by the Mortgage Banker's Association.
"Mortgage rates increased for the 10th consecutive week, with the 30-year fixed rate reaching 7.16 percent, the highest rate since 2001," said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist.
"The ongoing trend of rising mortgage rates continues to depress mortgage application activity, which remained at its slowest pace since 1997," continued Kan.
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