After a brief retreat last week, mortgage rates resumed their ascent.
The 30-year fixed-rate average climbed this week to 3.05%, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. It was 2.99% a week ago and 2.81% a year ago. The 30-year fixed rate hasn't been this high since April.
Freddie Mac, the federally chartered mortgage investor, aggregates rates from around 80 lenders across the country to come up with weekly national averages.
The survey is based on home purchase mortgages. Rates for refinances may be different. It uses rates for high-quality borrowers with strong credit scores and large down payments. Because of the criteria, these rates are not available to every borrower.
The 15-year fixed-rate average jumped to 2.3%. It was 2.23% a week ago and 2.35% a year ago.
The five-year adjustable rate average rose to 2.55%. It was 2.52% a week ago and 2.9% a year ago.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve's September meeting released this week and recent comments by Fed officials seem to indicate the central bank will begin reducing, or tapering, its bond-buying program soon. Although some observers wondered whether this month's disappointing employment report would cause a delay, the Fed appears to be signaling that it is moving forward with tapering, possibly as early as next month.
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard told CNBC that he supports starting the taper in November. Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic told the Financial Times he would "be comfortable starting in November."
For the past 18 months, the Fed has been buying $120 billion each month in Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities. The central bank's ongoing intervention in the market has kept mortgage rates low.
The last time the Fed tapered its asset purchases, following the recession of 2008, mortgage rates shot sharply higher. Even though Fed officials seem to be trying this time to avoid another so-called "taper tantrum" by giving markets ample notice of their intentions, most observers expect rates to move higher.
Besides the Fed's moves, inflation is putting upward pressure on mortgage rates. Wednesday's report from the Labor Department showed prices are continuing to rise. Although inflation doesn't have a direct effect on rates, they tend to move in tandem. As inflation rises mortgage rates tend to follow.
"Mortgage rates have gone up in four of the past five weeks," said Holden Lewis, home and mortgage specialist at NerdWallet. "Yes, we found out Friday [Oct. 8] that job growth was disappointing in September, but inflation is elevated. And the Federal Reserve is fixing to tighten monetary policy, and that combination is enough to push mortgage rates higher."