According to a new report released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), as newly arrived economic data last week sent “mixed signals,” mortgage rates hit the highest levels since their peak last November.

A benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage had an average rate of 7.07 percent last week, which was up from 6.85 percent the previous week, according to MBA data.

Joel Kan, MBA vice president and deputy chief economist said in a statement, “Incoming economic data continue to send mixed signals about the economy, with the overall impact leaving Treasury yields higher last week as markets expect that the Federal Reserve will need to hold rates higher for longer to slow inflation.”

Kan added, “All mortgage rates in our survey followed suit, with the 30-year fixed rate increasing to 7.07 percent, the highest level since November 2022.”

In the latter half of 2022 mortgage rates took off as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates in an effort to constrain a runaway inflation which was driving prices up and affecting the spending power of consumers.

Following the surge in rates, average rates settled to under 6 percent earlier this year, before then coming to rest at what economists couched as the new normal of around 6.5 to 7 percent.

At its last meeting the Federal Reserve paused its campaign of rate hikes to assess the effects of the current key rate, and since then mortgage rates have been steadily climbing.

However despite the increase in mortgage rates, on Wednesday new data showed that consumer prices only went up 0.2 percent in June, which was the smallest rise in inflation the economy had seen in two years.

The MBA noted, its data showed that despite the most recent increases in mortgage rates, last week there was a small increase in applications.

Kan said, “Purchase applications increased, but remained at a very low level and are 26 percent lower than the same week last year. The rise in purchase activity was driven by increases in both FHA and VA purchase applications.”

He went on, “The refinance index dropped to its lowest level since early June, as demand for rate/term and cash-out refinances remains extremely low with mortgage rates over 7 percent.”

Refinances, as a share of total mortgage activity fell to 26.8 percent last week, a drop from the previous weeks measure of 27.4 percent.