May 28--A spate of positive economic reports helped push average fixed mortgage rates this week to their highest level of the year.
Still, the cost of borrowing money to buy or refinance a home remains lower than it was a year ago.
The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan this week was 3.87 percent, compared with 3.84 percent last week and 4.12 percent in the same week a year ago, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey.
On a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, the average rate rose to 3.11 percent this week, from 3.05 percent last week. A year ago, that rate stood at 3.21 percent.
In the past week, several reports have painted a generally rosy outlook for the nation's housing market. Nationally, existing home sales in April were up 6.1 percent year-over-year and the S/Case-Shiller home price index also showed a solid gain in home prices for March. Meanwhile, new home sales jumped 6.8 percent in April to an annualized pace of 517,000 units.
mepodmolik@tribpub.com
