U.S. mortgage interest rates top 6% for first time since 2008
(Reuters) - The average interest rate on the most popular U.S. home loan rose above 6% for the first time since 2008 and is now more than double the level it was one year ago, Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) data showed on Wednesday. Rising mortgage rates are increasingly weighing on the interest-rate sensitive housing sector as the Federal Reserve pushes on with aggressively lifting borrowing costs in order to tame high inflation. The central bank has raised its benchmark overnight lending rate by 225 basis points since March. Expectations for Fed tightening have led to a surge in Treasury yields since the start of this year. The yield on the 10-year note acts as a benchmark for mortgage rates. The average contract rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose by 7 basis points to 6.01% for the week ended Sept. 9, a level not seen since towards the end of the financial crisis and Great Recession. The MBA also said its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volu