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Mortgage rates climb sharply
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May 20, 1999: 12:45 p.m. ET
Rates reach highest level in 18 months, according to Freddie Mac
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Mortgage rates rose sharply this week as inflation fears reappeared, mortgage firm Freddie Mac reported Thursday.
For the week ending May 21, the average rate on U.S. 30-year fixed mortgages climbed to 7.23 percent, the highest rate since November 1997, from last week's 7.10 percent. A year ago, rates also averaged 7.10 percent.
Fifteen-year loans also soared, averaging 6.83 percent, up from 6.71 percent the week before. The rate for these mortgages averaged 6.75 percent for the same period last year.
One-year adjustable-rate mortgages climbed to 5.76 percent from 5.71 percent. A year ago, the rate was 5.70 percent.
Frank Nothaft, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac, blamed the rise on renewed inflation jitters.
"With last week's news of the sharpest rise in CPI in almost nine years and the Fed's announcement of its bias toward higher interest rates, mortgage rates began to climb," Nothaft said.
The economist doesn't anticipate mortgage rates moving drastically in either direction in the near future, "unless new economic data confirms inflation has indeed picked up." 
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