Surging mortgage rates are pricing millions out of buying a home
CBSN
The U.S. real estate market was already tough for prospective buyers, who have faced double-digit price increases and cutthroat competition for listed properties. Now they are facing another challenge as rising mortgage rates add to the affordability squeeze.
The average mortgage rate jumped to 4.42% for the week ended March 24, according to Freddie Mac. That's a more than a one percentage-point jump since January 2022, when rates were hovering at about 3.2%. The current rate is the highest homebuyers have seen since March 2019.
The higher rate translates into significant costs for homebuyers. For a median-priced home, a rate of 4.4% on a fixed 30-year mortgage would cost someone an additional $250 a month, compared with a a purchaser who had bought in January when the rate was about 3.2%, according to Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of forecasting for the National Association of Realtors.
