Mortgage rates rising

After last week's decrease to a record 4.71 percent, interest on 30-year fixed mortgages rose to 4.81 percent this week, Freddie Mac reported.

While the Federal Reserve's effort to purchase $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae has helped keep rates attractive, Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft says they rose because a favorable unemployment report pushed long-term bond yields up slightly.

With the Fed program projected to end in March, the Mortgage Bankers Association forecast in October that 30-year fixed mortgages will rise to 5.4 percent next year, increase to 6 percent in 2011, and hit 6.3 percent in 2012.

Source: Inman News (12/11/09)