Mortgage rates keep climbing

Mortgage rates rose for the sixth consecutive week in response to improving economic signs, according to surveys conducted by mortgage buyer Freddie Mac and Bankrate. In Freddie Mac's weekly survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.01 percent, with an average 0.7 point, for the week ended today, up from last week when it averaged 5.94 percent. The average for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage this week is 5.35 percent, with an average 0.6 point, up slightly from last week when it averaged 5.25 percent. One-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.75 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, unchanged from last week when it averaged 3.69 percent. "With financial markets more optimistic that the economy is expanding nicely, mortgage rates had nowhere to go but up this week," said Amy Crews Cutts, Freddie Mac deputy chief economist. "Then, as a result of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures released today, the market began weighing which part of GDP it fe...