The economy's slow improvement is nudging mortgage interest rates higher, with home finance giant Freddie Mac saying the average for a conventional 30-year mortgage rose to 4.08% this week, its high point for the year.
Freddie Mac's weekly survey of lenders started the year at 3.87% and sank to 3.59% in early February. This week's report, released Thursday, showed the 30-year fixed rate loan at or above 4% for the fourth survey in a row, and up from 4.02% last week.
Lenders were offering 15-year fixed-rate loans to solid borrowers at an average of 3.