Mortgage rates up before Fed talks

Mortgage rates moved higher for the third week in a row as financial markets awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s meeting this week.

As expected, the central bank left the benchmark rate unchanged but was more upbeat in its assessment of the U. S. economy. That could mean a rate increase is on the table for later this year.

The Fed news came too late in the week to be factored into Freddie Mac’s mortgage rates survey. The governmentbacked mortgage- backer aggregates current rates weekly from 125 lenders across the country to come up with a national average mortgage rate.

According to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., the 30- year, fixed- rate average crept up to 3.48 percent with an average 0.5 point. Points are fees paid to a lender equal to 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average was 3.45 percent a week ago. The 30- year fixed rate hasn’t been above 3.5 percent since late June.