WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. mortgage rates reached the highest level since 2011, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, commonly known as Freddie Mac, said on Thursday.
For the week ending November 8, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) in the United States averaged 4.94 percent, according to Freddie Mac's newly-released survey.
"The economy continued to show resilience as strong business activity and growth in employment drove the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to a seven year high of 4.94 percent -- up 11 basis points from last week," said Sam Khater, chief economist of Freddie Mac.
For the same period a year ago, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.9 percent, according to Freddie Mac.
The survey also showed that 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.33 percent, while the reading was 3.24 percent a year ago.
Khater also noted that higher mortgage rates have led to a slowdown in home price growth across the United States, but the price deceleration has been concentrated in wealthy coastal markets.
"The more affordable interior markets -- which have not yet experienced a slowdown home price growth -- may see price growth start to moderate and affordability squeezed if mortgage rates continue to march higher," Khater added.
Freddie Mac is a corporation founded by U.S. Congress, aiming at promoting the stability and affordability in the U.S. housing market by purchasing mortgages from banks and other loan makers. The corporation has been conducting weekly surveys on U.S. mortgage rates since April 1971.
