Mortgage Rates Post Modest Rise, But Still Below Last Year

Mortgage interest rates rose during the week thanks to increases in home values and sales as well as slower-than-expected economic growth, Freddie Mac said.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average rose to 3.68%, up three basis points from the week before, but it is 61 basis points lower from where it stood a year ago.

Likewise, 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averages rose two basis points, to 2.94%, 44 basis points below last year's average at this time.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averages rose one basis point, to 2.85%, 20 points below the same time last year, and one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages rose five points, to 2.49%.

"Mortgage rates were up slightly following a week of mixed economic releases. Real GDP grew at a paltry 0.2% annualized rate in the first quarter of 2015, well below expectations," Freddie Mac deputy chief economist Len Kiefer said in a release accompanying the statistics.

"However, the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index rose 1.1% in March for the third consecutive month. The S&P/Case-Shiller National House Price Index also rose 5% in February on a yearly basis."