Mortgage rates inch up in first week of May
May 9 2013 2:04PM
Home buyers in the Los Angeles real estate market might want to speed up their buying process, as mortgage rates increased for the first time in six weeks.
According to Freddie Mac, both 15- and 30-year fixed-rate mortgages edged up in the week ending May 9. However, they still remain near all-time lows and are well below the averages from a year earlier.
Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at the government-sponsored enterprise, said rates were up due the better than expected jobs report.
"Fixed mortgage rates edged up following a solid employment report for April," he said. "The economy gained 165,000 new jobs on net last month, more than the market consensus forecast and the largest monthly increase this year."
This might be just the beginning of rate increases, as the Mortgage Bankers Association believes rates for 30-year loans will hit 4.4 percent by the end of 2013.
The main reason rates could continue to increase is the improving economy, as Joe Caltabiano, senior vice president of Guaranteed Rate mortgages, told Yahoo Homes that interest rates generally shift with the economy.
With the potential for interest rates to rise further, there could be a rush on homes in Marina del Ray in the coming months.
