Positive economic news continues to push mortgage rates higher

The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rates jumped this, reaching a two-year high of 4.51 percent.

The rate jumped from an average of 4.29 percent last week. A year ago at this time, the average rate was 3.56 percent. The 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.53 percent, compared with 3.39 percent last week. A year ago at this time, the average 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 2.86 percent.

Rates have increased in recent weeks on speculation that the Federal Reserve will reduce future bond purchases. A positive June employment report caused the bump this week.

” The economy gained 195,000 jobs in June, above the market consensus forecast, while revisions to the prior two months added 70,000 on top of that,” Frank Nothaft, vcie president and chief economist at Freddie Mac, said in a statement. “Moreover, hourly wages rose by 2.2 percent over the last 12 months and represented the largest annual increase in nearly two years. However, the minutes of the June 18th and 19th Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee meeting, released July 10th, stated that many members indicated further improvement in the outlook for the labor market would be required before it would be appropriate to slow the pace of bond purchases.”