Mortgage Rates Highest Since July 1996

The average interest rate on 30-year mortgages climbed to 8.38% this week, up from 8.36% last week, Freddie Mac said. This week’s rate was the highest since an 8.42% rate for the week ended July 12, 1996. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, also rose, to an average of 8% from 7.96% last week. On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 6.77% this week, up from 6.73%. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points, which averaged at or just more than 1% of the loan amount for all three types of mortgages.