Rates for 30-year home loans surged last week, rising to the highest level in eight months due to the improving economy and the end of a government push to make mortgages cheaper.
The mortgage finance company Freddie Mac says the average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 5.21 percent this week, up from 5.08 percent a week earlier. That's the highest since the week ending August 13, 2009, when the average rate was 5.29 percent.
Rates had dropped to a record low of 4.71 percent in December, pushed down by a $1.25 trillion campaign by the Federal Reserve to reduce consumers' borrowing costs. That ended last week.
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