The housing market is on the fritz – again.

Mortgage rates rose for the fifth consecutive week, sending the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to 6.73%, according to Freddie Mac’s latest data, released March 9. That’s up 0.08% from the previous week and 2.8% compared to this time last year.

At the same time, other parts of the economy continue to run red hot.

The United States added 311,000 jobs in February – higher than expected. And in the 12-month period that ended in January, prices rose 6.4%, indicating that while inflation is slowing, it’s still sky high and it’s not coming back to earth as fast as experts were hoping.

What does all of this mean for homeowners, buyers and sellers? Here’s what you need to know.

Rising rates

Mortgage rates have climbed for the past five weeks.

For most of 2020 and 2021, rates held steady somewhere between 2% and 3%, Freddie Mac’s data shows. In 2022, rates began to climb again, peaking in November at 7.08%.

Since November, rates trended down until February, when they began to climb again.

“Mortgage rates continue their upward trajectory as the Federal Reserve signals a more aggressive stance on monetary policy,” Freddie Mac’s chief economist, Sam Khater, said in the March 9 release. “Overall, consumers are spending in sectors that are not interest rate sensitive, such as travel and dining out. However, rate-sensitive sectors, such as housing, continue to be adversely affected.”

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