Mortgage Rates Hit New Multi-Year Highs

It was another bad day for the mortgage market.  This has been the norm so far in 2022 as financial markets continue repositioning for less and less support from the Federal Reserve.

There were no major new developments on that front today.  Bonds (which underlie mortgage rates) simply drifted into moderately weaker territory.  In so doing, they ignored several potential justifications to improve.  This gives the impression that rates simply took an opportunity to catch their breath as investors weighed the implications of geopolitical risk surrounding Ukraine.

Today's average mortgage rates aren't significantly higher than the previous highs, but nonetheless the highest we've seen since May 2019.  The average conventional 30yr fixed is now closer to 4.25% than 4.125%.