Mortgages top 6 percent

WASHINGTON – Rates on 30-year mortgages topped 6 percent for the first time in six weeks as financial markets grew more worried about rising inflation pressures.

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.03 percent this week after three straight weeks at 5.88 percent. Rates on 30-year mortgages were last above 6 percent the week of March 16 when they averaged 6.13 percent.

The Federal Reserve has been aggressively cutting interest rates to combat an economic slowdown that many economists believe has turned into a recession. However, analysts said that the Fed is likely to scale back its rate cuts to a quarter-point move at next week’s meeting as a way of signaling that it is also concerned about the threat of inflation.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, rose this week to 5.62 percent, up from 5.40 percent last week.

Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.68 percent, up from 5.48 percent last week. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.28 percent compared with 5.10 percent last week.

The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. For 30-year and 15-year mortgages, the nationwide average fee was 0.3 point while the average fee was 0.5 point for 5-year and one-year mortgages.

A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 6.16 percent, 15-year mortgage rates averaged 5.87 percent, five-year adjustable-rate mortgages were 5.88 percent and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages were at 5.43 percent.