by Calculated Risk on 3/02/2023 08:22:00 PM

From Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: Mortgage Rates Now Back Above 7%

Mortgage rates have been hit hard on two fronts over the past month. The first front is the obvious one: the bond market has moved in a way that forces rates to go higher. To be fair, it's almost always the bond market that forces rates to go wherever they're going.
...
There's a different problem in the "everything else" category right now. The regulator overseeing Fannie and Freddie recently changed some of the upfront fees required for all conforming mortgages (conforming = guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie). Depending on a borrower's credit score and the amount of a home's value they wish to borrow, their rate could instantly rise by 0.125% simply because a lender implemented the new fee requirements.

Without the impact of those fees, rates could still be in the high 6% range, or close to it. As it stands, the average lender is now back up into the low 7's for a well-qualified 30yr fixed scenario. These aren't the highest levels we've seen during this cycle, but they are the highest in more than 4 months (and not too far away from the long-term highs just under 7.4%). [30 year fixed 7.10%]
emphasis added