US mortgage rates last week topped 7.5% for the first since November 2000 and applications for home purchases tumbled to a multi-decade low, illustrating a battered housing market.
The contract rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose by 12 basis points, the most since mid-August, to 7.53% in the week ended Sept. 29, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data out Wednesday. The index of home-purchase applications fell 5.7% to 136.6, the lowest level since 1995.
