Last Friday continues to be the epicenter of the most recent push to multi-year highs for mortgage rates.  The average lender jumped by roughly an eighth of a point at the time.  That's a very big move for a single day--the kind that only happens a few times a year.

Rates are slightly higher so far this week, but the pace has been very modest by comparison.  This is a bit of a blessing and a curse.  On a positive note, it's always nice when rates stop rising abruptly.  On the other hand, the underlying bond market (which dictates rates) continued to sell off today.

In other words, bonds pointed to even higher rates.  There are two reasons the bond drama failed to spark much of a rate jump.  First, some of last Friday's move was overly defensive.  That's not abnormal on days where rates spike in grand fashion following a big piece of news.  In addition, there is some late day weakness in bonds that has yet to translate to lenders' mortgage rate offerings.

As for the specific levels of those offerings, after being in the low 3% range just a month ago, the average lender is quickly approaching 4.0%.  Many imperfect scenarios are already there.