Briefly

* Mortgage interest rates continued to rise last week, according to Freddie Mac. The average rate for a 30-year mortgage was 6.34%, up from 6.12% the week before and the highest since the week of Sept. 5. Rates for 15-year mortgages rose to an average of 5.72% from 5.47%, also the highest since Sept. 5. One-year adjustable rate mortgages inched up to an average of 3.90% from 3.76%.

* In California, the median price of an existing, single-family detached home rose to a record $407,170 in the first quarter from $338,010 in the same period last year, the California Assn. of Realtors reported Wednesday.

* Nationwide home sales continued to slow in the first three months of the year as sales of existing single-family homes, condominiums and cooperatively owned apartments dropped 1.4% to a seasonally adjusted 7.14 million pace from 7.24 million in the fourth quarter, according to a National Assn. of Realtors report. Sales have been slowing since the third quarter of last year.

* Rising mortgage rates sent demand for home refinancings plummeting in the week ended May 7. But the rates were still low enough to spur home buying and boost requests for purchase loans, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. said.