The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 7.4% from 7.28% a week earlier, marking a seventh straight weekly increase, Freddie Mac said.
A year earlier, the 30-year rate stood at 6.3%. The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage also climbed, from 6.6% to 6.73%, adding to borrowing costs for prospective homebuyers.
Economist Joel Berner linked the latest increase to pressure from the 10-year Treasury yield, which he said averaged 5.28% for the week, up nine basis points. Mortgage rates tend to follow that yield, though Federal Reserve rate decisions do not set them directly.
Berner said pending home sales fell from a year earlier in both August and September, and sellers were cutting prices at a pace not seen in four years. He said buyers able to pay cash faced more favorable conditions, with prices down 1.4% and homes for sale up 5.4% year over year.
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