Financial Times FT.com

Subprime fall-out

US mortgage rates leap ahead

By Michael Mackenzie and Saskia Scholtes in New York

Published: June 1 2008 19:43 | Last updated: June 1 2008 19:43

US mortgage rates soared last week amid a sharp rise in Treasury market yields, as investors started to bet that inflation pressures could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later this year.

The sell-off pushed rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages to an 11-week high of 6.02 per cent, up from 5.81 per cent a week earlier, according to Bankrate.com. Meanwhile, the so-called “jumbo” mortgages – or those for loans above $417,000 – rose to 7.21 per cent from 7.05 per cent.

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