Jeff Ostrowski | Bankrate.com (TNS)
As homebuyers grapple with record prices this spring, mortgage rates have also crept up. On a 30-year fixed loan, the average rate was 7.39% as of May 1, according to Bankrate’s survey of large lenders, marking three straight months of 7% rates.
Blame inflation. It’s still stubbornly elevated, rising to 3.5% in March, and that’s led to dialed-back expectations about how quickly the Federal Reserve cuts rates this year, if at all. The central bank left rates unchanged at its latest meeting concluding May 1.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate was 3.98% in March, while economic growth slowed to
