Who's Hurt by Mortgage-Rate Jump

Falling home prices could help soften the blow from rising interest rates, although high rates and low home values represent a double whammy for homeowners looking to refinance their existing loans.

Home prices are expected to continue to decline through the year, according to the National Association of Realtors, expected to recover only slightly in the first part of 2009. And that group has tended to be on the optimistic side of housing-market predictions , so it might be even longer than that.

Meanwhile, mixed signals in terms of the number of new mortgage applications seem to point to an overall improvement in sales volumes entering the summer.

According to the Freddie Mac survey, however, rates for 15-year fixed rate mortgages experienced a jump similar to their 30-year counterparts. Rates for the 15-year loans rose to 5.93% with 0.6 points, up from 5.65% and 0.6 points last week. ARMs were less affected: 5/1 ARMs (five years at a fixed rate followed by rate adjustments at one-year intervals) were up to 5.70% and 0.7 points from 5.51% and 0.5 points. Meanwhile, one-year ARMs, in which the rate adjusts every year, rose just three basis points to 5.09% and 0.6 points, up from last week's 5.06% and 0.7 points.

If you're one of the growing numbers of consumers trying to take advantage of interest rates while they remain low, you can head to the mortgage section of BankingMyWay.com to get up to date offers and interest rates.