MORTGAGE RATES TICK UP MORTGAGE RATES TICK UP Rates on 30-year mortgages edged up this week to the highest level since March as investors worried about inflation. Mortgage company Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.09%, compared with 6.08% last week. It was the highest mark for 30-year mortgages since they averaged 6.13% the week of March 16. Analysts said investors' concern about inflation and possible Fed action helped boost rates. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed new concerns this week about inflation. The markets interpreted his comments as a signal the central bank will not cut interest rates further because of fears that inflation could spiral out of control. In the latest survey, rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.65%, compared with 5.66% last week. The five-year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 5.51% vs. 5.62% last week. The rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage stood at 5.06%, compared with 5.22% last week. The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. Nationwide, fees for 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 0.6 point; fees on five-year mortgages averaged 0.5 point. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 0.7 point. A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages averaged 6.53%, 15-year mortgage rates averaged 6.22%, five-year adjustable-rate mortgages were at 6.24% and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages were at 5.65%.

--Associated Press With homes entering foreclosure at a record rate, economists see no letup in the surge of homeowners who are losing their properties for failure to pay their mortgage. For the first quarter of the year, the rate of new foreclosures hit 0.99%, the highest point since record-keeping began in 1979, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday. And the delinquency rate — reflecting those at least 30 days behind on their bills and at risk of sinking into foreclosure — reached 6.35%. That was another record. STORY: Fed bank presidents question helping securities firms "It doesn't get any worse than this," says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com. "There's no sign of stabilization. It's going to continue at least through the end of this year." Patrick Newport, an economist at Global Insight, says: "I look at a lot of housing reports, and this is probably the worst report I've come across. We still think home prices will drop another 10%, and foreclosures will remain elevated through the end of the year." At the same time, Newport says, there's some sign that home sales may be picking up in California and Florida. If so, he says, that could lead to an uptick in sales nationwide by the end of this year. But he and other economists agree that the high rate of foreclosures will persist nationwide. The main reason is that so many adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) have been resetting this year, and in many cases they're leaving people with higher mortgage bills. And in a sagging economy, with workers facing job losses or shrunken paychecks, many homeowners can't afford bigger payments. Compounding the misery, prices are plummeting, in part because of a swelling supply of homes for sale, magnified by the rising foreclosures. Stuck with foreclosed properties, banks are slashing prices to unload those homes, forcing other sellers to cut their own prices to compete. A drop in housing values, in turn, has left current homeowners with dwindling equity, spurring even more foreclosures. "Foreclosures are creating price declines," Zandi notes, "and price declines are leading to more foreclosures due to negative equity." Further exacerbating the problem is that banks have tightened lending rules to reduce their own financial risks. Fewer people, as a result, are qualified to buy. Some states have been battered. California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada combined represent 89% of the increase in homes entering foreclosure, the MBA says. Nationwide, the proportion of all homes in some stage of foreclosure reached 2.47%. That was yet another record in the MBA's figures dating to 1979. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more