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Mortgage rates spike up
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October 7, 1999: 12:10 p.m. ET
Change in Fed bias leads to higher home mortgages, Freddie Mac reports
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Mortgage rates soared this week after the Federal Reserve announced it had changed its bias toward tightening interest rates, mortgage firm Freddie Mac reported Thursday.
The rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.82 for the week ending Oct. 8, up from 7.70 percent. That's more than a one percentage point above the rate a year ago, when the 30-year fixed rate was pegged at 6.49 percent.
The average for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also moved higher to 7.43 percent from 7.35 percent last week.
Adjustable-rate mortgages climbed as well. The average one-year adjustable rate mortgage is at 6.27 percent, up from 6.12 percent a week ago and 5.36 percent one year ago.
(Click here to see a breakdown of average mortgage rates by U.S. region.)
"Mortgage rates climbed in the latest period, in part due to the bias of the Federal Reserve to tighten credit," said Robert van Order, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "Despite that, the cost of a mortgage remains affordable enough to assure the housing industry another record-setting year." 
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