Arizona Home Talk

By Holden Lewis at www.bankrate.com

Mortgage rates took a big jump this week, to their highest point in a year. There’s no single explanation for the rise.

The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 35 basis points, to 6.77 percent, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point. The mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.45 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was almost the same, at 6.75 percent. Four weeks ago, it was 6.62 percent.

The benchmark 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 37 basis points, to 6.32 percent. The benchmark 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage rose 43 basis points, to 6.48 percent. The 30-year fixed jumbo, for big mortgages, rose 4 basis points, to 7.68 percent.

The last time the 30-year fixed was higher was the week of July 18, 2007, when it was 6.82 percent. Six weeks after that, the 30-year fixed was below 6.5 percent. Circumstances are different now, and there’s no guarantee that we’ll see a repeat of an August rate swoon.