For the first time in five months and following a post rate hike slip, the average rate for the benchmark 30-year mortgage is back above 4 percent having ticked up 5 basis points to an average rate of 4.01 percent on the last day of 2015.
The current rate is 14 basis points above the 3.87 percent average rate recorded at the end of 2014. And with the Fed having signaled expectations for four more rate hikes this year, Freddie Mac is expecting the 30-year mortgage rate to average 4.7 percent by the end of 2016.