NEW YORK (Reuters) - Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose for the first time in four weeks, in step with bond yields, on expectations of faster growth and inflation spurred by policy decisions of U.S. President Donald Trump, according to mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac (PK:FMCC) on Thursday.
Trump, since taking office last Friday, has embarked on a series of moves aimed at bolstering jobs and capital investments, stoking jitters about inflation.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields (US10YT=RR) rose to four-week highs early Thursday at 2.551 percent.
The borrowing cost on 30-year mortgages, the most widely held type of U.S. home loan, averaged 4.19 percent in the week ended Jan. 26, up from 4.09 percent last week which was the lowest since early December, it said.
Four weeks earlier, it averaged 4.32 percent, which was the highest since 4.33 percent in the week of April 24, 2014.
The spike in mortgage rates, together with tight housing supply, have crimped home sales.
On Thursday, the government said new single-family home sales fell to a 10-month low in December, though they marked their strongest year since 2007 last year.
While housing turnover fell at the end of last year, home prices marched higher, lifting the median values on new homes by 7.9 percent in 2016.
Limited housing inventory "should support higher house prices regardless of the oscillations of the mortgage rate," Freddie Mac's chief economist Sean Becketti said in a statement.
Below is a summary of Freddie Mac's average mortgage rates in the week ended Jan. 26:
Loan type Latest week (pct) Week ago (pct) Year ago (pct)
30-year fixed 4.19 4.09 3.79
15-year fixed 3.40 3.34 3.07
5-year ARM 3.20 3.21 2.90
