By Diana Olick | CNBC
Mortgage rates are now sitting solidly at the highest level in two years and could move even higher in the coming weeks.
Granted, December is not exactly the hottest season for the housing market — homes don’t top the holiday gift list — but in January, all eyes move to the all-important spring season. This, coming after the Federal Reserve’s expected rate increase on Wednesday.
Even before a Fed move, the average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage shot up from record lows immediately after the presidential election, as investors piled into the stock market and sold out of the bond market [mortgage rates loosely follow the yield of the U.S. 10-year Treasury].
