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After a notable increase for a few weeks, the average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage stopped rising, remaining relatively flat for three weeks.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n WASHINGTON (AP) \u2013 Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates were flat for a third straight week after rising about a half percent early in the year.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The average rate on the 30-year loan held at 3.55% from last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday. It stood at 2.73% a year ago.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular among those refinancing their homes, fell to 2.77% from 2.80% last week. One year ago, the rate was 2.21%.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Though they remain historically low, home loan rates have been rising to levels not seen since early 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was breaking in the U.S.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Last week, the Fed signaled that it would begin a series of interest rate hikes in March, reversing pandemic-era policies that have fueled hiring and growth, but also adding to inflation levels not seen in some 40 years.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Earlier this month, the government reported that inflation spiked to 7% in December from a year earlier, the sharpest increase in four decades. In addition, the Labor Department reported that prices at the wholesale level surged by a record 9.7% last month from December 2020.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The Fed\u2019s upcoming rate hike \u2013 or hikes \u2013 will likely make it more expensive to borrow for a home, car or business.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Also Thursday, the government reported that applications for unemployment benefits fell for the second week in a row after three straight weeks of increases that economists blamed on the surging omicron variant of COVID-19.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The Commerce Department reported last week that the nation\u2019s gross domestic product \u2013 its total output of goods and services \u2013 expanded 5.7% in 2021, the strongest calendar-year growth since a 7.2% surge in 1984. In the fourth quarter, the economy grew at an unexpectedly brisk 6.9% annual pace.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Available housing has been hard to come by since long before the pandemic started, and rising prices are making it even harder for homebuyers to secure a new home. Economists expect rising interest rates to add to house hunters\u2019 dismay.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n