The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage soared to 7.2% this week, its highest in a year and a half. Coupled with home prices near record highs, it’s putting the American dream of owning a home further out of reach for millions.
\n\n“We don’t want to buy this big, beautiful house only to just sit in it, staring at each other, stressing about a mortgage payment every month,” said Alexandra DeCandia, who teaches biology at Georgetown University.
\n\nDeCandia and her husband, Edward Schrom, both 33, are looking for their first home in the Washington area. They hope to start a family and want to buy a home before they do.
\n\n“It’s something that’s a huge decision and one that will impact us, as well as our future family,” DeCandia said. “It’s very stressful to try to figure that out in this shifting landscape.”
\n\nMortgage rates were on a downswing earlier this year, hitting 5.99% in late February. But ever since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, they have skyrocketed.
\n\nMortgage interest rates are heavily influenced by the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds, which has been rising as oil prices soar and drive up the cost…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/