In U. S, the mortgage rates are rising at an unexpected pace, and for December, managed to hit a four month high. The mortgage rates this week were 5.05% higher than last week’s rates. The rising mortgage rates would pose a problem for the economy and also the people who want to buy homes and refinance existing loans.

On 15-year mortgages, the average fixed rate was 4.54%, up from 4.45% a week earlier.

“If you start to see rates heading toward 6 percent, which will create some political attention. The important thing to watch is what happens to rates in the period after the holidays, which is usually a slow time for housing sales and refinancing”, said Donald J. Rissmiller, chief economist at Strategas Research Partners in New York, while stressing that this holiday time is the slowest time for housing sales and refinancing.

A Federal Reserve program is scheduled for next year around spring time, under which around $1.25 trillion would be spent to support the market for mortgage-backed securities.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index of applications to purchase a home or refinance a mortgage was 11 percent down for the week ending Dec. 18.