Geopolitical tensions are rippling through America’s housing market, adding to the financial strain on homebuyers.
This week, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage climbed to 6.55% — its highest level in nearly a year — after renewed strikes in Iran rattled financial markets.
The increase all but extinguishes the optimism that defined the start of the spring homebuying season, when many economists expected falling mortgage rates to help thaw the housing market.
In February, the average mortgage rate briefly fell below 6% for the first time in three and a half years. But fighting that erupted in the Middle East days later upended that trajectory, pushing bond yields and mortgage rates higher as investors worried the conflict would keep oil prices and inflation elevated.
And there are signs elevated mortgage rates are keeping would-be buyers out of the market.
