US mortgage rates climb for a second week, reaching 6.34%

[BOSTON] Mortgage rates in the rose for a second straight week. The average for 30-year, fixed loans was 6.34 per cent, up from 6.3 per cent last week, Freddie Mac said.

Homebuyers may have started to respond to mortgage rates that are significantly lower then they were at midyear.

Contracts to purchase resale homes climbed in August to a five-month high, the National Association of Realtors reported this week. But many house hunters remain on the sidelines, waiting for borrowing costs to fall further or concerned about the job market and where the economy is headed.

Mortgage rates and the Treasury yields that guide them are expected to stick within a tight range for the time being as financial markets assess the implications of the government shutdown.

“The timing of this disruption is particularly sensitive,” coming just after the US Federal Reserve’s first interest-rate cut of 2025, said Jiayi Xu, senior economist at Realtor.com. Releases of data that would inform the central bank’s next steps, such as employment and inflation figures, may be delayed.

The Fed operates independently, so the timing of the October meeting won’t be affected, she said. “Still, the longer the shutdown drags on, the greater its potential influence on markets and monetary policy decisions will be.” BLOOMBERG