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Mortgages at 3-year highs
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January 20, 2000: 5:26 p.m. ET
Loan rates climb for 10th week, hitting highest level since September 1996
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Mortgage rates headed higher for the 10th week in a row, according to a survey by Freddie Mac.
For the week ending Jan. 21, a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 8.26 percent, up from 8.18 percent last week. After several interest-rate increases by the Federal Reserve in 1999, it is well above its year-ago level of 6.78 percent.
In fact, the 30-year fixed is at its highest point in more than three years. You have to go back to the week ended Sept. 13, 1996, to see rates this high.
The average for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also climbed, to 7.86 percent from 7.78 percent last week. That kind of mortgage stood at 6.42 percent a year ago. It also is at its highest rate in more than three years.
A one-year adjustable-rate mortgage ran at 6.56 percent, a little below last week's 6.61 percent. A year ago it stood at 5.57 percent.
(Click here for a breakdown of U.S. mortgage rates by region.)
"Inflation remains a pressure and will keep upward pressure on mortgage rates, at least until the Federal Reserve meets in February," said Robert Van Order, Freddie Mac's chief economist. Still, he said the economy continues its boom and the housing market remains strong.
Housing starts for December were up 7.1 percent, for instance, much higher than expected. Order said he doesn't expect 2000 to be a record year for the housing industry, but it still will be very good, he said.
Freddie Mac (FRE), or the Federal Home Mortgage Corp., is a publicly held company that buys mortgages from banks, bundles them, then repackages them as mortgage-backed securities. 
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