Ticker: Mortgage rates up 6th straight week; Unemployment applications tick up

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. rose for the sixth straight week, returning to its highest level since early July.

The rate ticked up to 6.79% from 6.72% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. That’s still down from a year ago, when the rate averaged 7.5%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower rate, also edged higher this week. The average rate rose to 6% from 5.99% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.81%, Freddie Mac said.

The average rate on a 30-year home loan hasn’t been this high since July 11, when it was 6.89%. In late September, the average rate got as low as 6.08% — its lowest level in two years — following the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut its main interest rate for the first time in more than four years.

Unemployment applications tick up

The number of Americans applying for jobless aid ticked up last week but layoffs remain at historically low levels.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claim applications rose by 3,000 to 221,000 for the week of Nov. 2. That’s fewer than the 227,000 analysts forecast.

The four-week average of weekly claims, which softens some of the week-to-week fluctuations, fell by 9,750 to 227,250.

Continuing claims, the total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits, rose by 39,000 to 1.89 million for the week of Oct. 26. That’s the most since late 2021.

In October, the U.S. economy produced a meager 12,000 jobs, though economists pointed to recent strikes and hurricanes that left many workers temporarily off payrolls.

During the first four months of 2024, applications for jobless benefits averaged just 213,000 a week before rising in May.