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Freddie Mac: That\u2019s up from 4.72% last week; it\u2019s the first time the 30-year FRM has hit 5% in over 10 years amid persistent high inflation.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n WASHINGTON (AP) \u2013 Long-term U.S. mortgage rates continued to climb this week as the key 30-year loan rate reached 5% for the first time in more than a decade amid persistent high inflation.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The average 5% rate on the 30-year mortgage was up from 4.72% last week, mortgage buyer\u00a0Freddie Mac\u00a0reported Thursday. The average rates in recent months have been showing the fastest pace of increases since 1994. By contrast, a year ago the 30-year rate stood at 3.04%.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular among those refinancing their homes, jumped to 4.17% from 3.91% last week.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n With inflation at a four-decade high, rising mortgage rates, elevated home prices and tight supply of homes available for sale, the goal of homeownership has become the most expensive in a generation,\u00a0Freddie Mac\u00a0says. And this comes as the spring homebuying season begins.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Home prices are up about 15% over the past year and as much as 30% in some cities. Available homes had been in short supply even before the coronavirus pandemic started just over two years ago.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A government report Wednesday showed that the surging cost of energy pushed up wholesale prices a record 11.2% last month from a year earlier \u2013 another sign that inflationary pressure is widespread in the\u00a0U.S.\u00a0economy. Energy prices, which soared worldwide after Russia\u2019s\u00a0Feb. 24\u00a0invasion of\u00a0Ukraine, were up 36.7% from\u00a0March 2021.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The wholesale inflation report was issued a day after the\u00a0Labor Department\u00a0disclosed that consumer prices in March jumped 8.5% from a year earlier, the fastest annual clip since\u00a0December 1981.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n