Real Estate

Rates may go back down again next week as a result of lower consumer inflation, but they nudged up this week.

Long-term mortgage rates, while still historically cheap, rose for a second consecutive week.

Freddie Mac said the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5.69 percent, up from last week's average 5.62 percent. Shorter-term rates also rose. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.16 percent this week.

"Mortgage rates rose for the second week in a row on concerns about a pickup in inflation showing up in raw materials," said Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft. "However, a broader measure of inflation, the consumer price index, posted a less-than-expected rise in inflation, causing bond yields to fall."