Mortgage Rates Climb to 8.15%; Real Estate Notes
Mortgage rates started off 2000 by hitting their highest levels since August amid fears that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month.</br></br>The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages climbed to 8.15 percent for the week ending Jan. 7, up from 8.06 percent last week, according to a weekly survey released Thursday by Freddie Mac.</br></br>Before late August, the last time mortgage rates were this high was April 18, 1997, when they reached 8.16 percent.</br></br>Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, also were up this week with an average rate of 7.73 percent this week, up from the average rate of 7.66 percent last week.</br></br>On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 6.60 percent this week, up from 6.56 percent the previous week.