Mortgage Rates See Highest Jump in 4 Years

Mortgage rates just took their biggest weekly jump in four years, another blow to the housing market. The average 30-year fixed rate climbed to 7.28% from 7.03% this week, the biggest spike since October 2022, reports the Wall Street Journal. Rates are now at their highest level since late 2023, per CNN. "Showings have stopped basically," said Don Wessel, a real-estate agent in Greenville, South Carolina, tells the Journal. "I've got good listings in downtown Greenville, which is one of the hottest areas, and nobody's looking at them."

Mortgage applications fell 6% last week, their fourth straight decline. Agents describe a market in which cash-rich buyers are starting to dominate, with sellers who locked in 3% mortgages now more likely to stay put—or become landlords—than accept today's rates. The ongoing turmoil in the bond market, inflation fears, and rising government debt is contributing to the spike in mortgage rates, which had begun to decline before the Iran war began.