Mortgage rates are now at the highest level of the year, and could still climb

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The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage crossed over 7% on April 1, according to Mortgage News Daily, and it just kept going. It now sits right around 7.5%, the highest level since mid-November of last year. Rates hit their highest level in a few decades last October, causing home sales to grind to a halt. Builders jumped to buy down rates for their customers and managed to do better than existing home sellers. Rates then fell through mid-January to the mid-6% range and held there into February, causing a surge in home sales. But then they began rising again. "By mid-February, a pick-up in inflation reset expectations, putting mortgage rates back on an upward trend, and more recent data and comments from Fed Chair [Jerome] Powell have only underscored inflation concerns," said Danielle Hale, chief economist for Realtor.com. "Sales data over the next few months is likely to reflect the impact of now-higher mortgage rates."