Mortgage rates rise for 2nd week

But the 30-year fixed-rate average remains just below 3%

Many factors influenced mortgage rates this week — the Federal Reserve minutes, the U.S. Treasury auction and encouraging economic data in retail sales and home builder sentiment.

But nothing had more of an effect than last week’s decision by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, at least according to mortgage lenders.

The 30-year fixed-rate average moved higher for the second week in a row, but remained below 3%. It was 2.99% with an average 0.8 point, according to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac. (Points are fees paid to a lender equal to 1% of the loan amount and are in addition to the interest rate.) It was 2.96% a week ago and 3.55% a year ago.

Freddie Mac, the federally chartered mortgage investor, aggregates rates from around 80 lenders across the country to come up with weekly national averages. It uses rates for borrowers who have strong credit scores and make large down payments, rates not available to every borrower.

The 15-year fixed-rate average rose to 2.54% with an average 0.7 point. It was 2.46% a week ago and 3.03% a year ago. The five-year adjustable rate average ticked up to 2.91% with an average 0.3 point. It was 2.9% a week ago and 3.32% a year ago.

“Mortgage rates rose sharply over the last seven days as a result of a surprising new policy making refinance loans more expensive,” said Matthew Speakman, a Zillow economist.

Last week, the finance agency announced a price adjustment for refinance transactions. The adjustment is 0.5% of the loan amount (on a $300,000 loan, that comes to $1,500) and applies to all Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refinances starting in September.

The fee “is a move on their part to mitigate risk of future defaults on the conforming loans they guarantee,” Glenn Brunker, a mortgage executive at Ally Home, wrote in an email. “The new fee, scheduled to take effect Sept. 1st, will drive revenue to offset what could be higher default rates due to prolonged economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic. It’s important to know this new fee excludes purchase loans — so it won’t affect home buyers — and would also not apply to non-conforming loans like jumbo loans used to finance larger loan amounts.”