30-year-mortgage Rate Rises To 3.83%

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.83% in the week that ended Dec. 24 from the prior week's reading of 3.80%, which was the lowest rate since May 2013, according to a Wednesday report from federally controlled mortgage-buyer Freddie Mac. Long-term rates were near record low levels in early May 2013, and started rising later that month on market speculation about the timing of the Federal Reserve tapering its massive asset-purchase program that exerted downward pressure on rates. A year ago, the 30-year rate was at 4.48%. The average rate for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked up to 3.10% in the latest week from 3.09% in the prior week. Meanwhile, the rate for a 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 3.01% from 2.95%. The rate for a 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM inched up to 2.39% from 2.38%.