Mortgage rates almost double from year ago, nearing 6 percent

Mortgage rates in the U.S. are nearly twice what they were a year ago this week, an ongoing sign of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive push to tamp down inflation by constricting the financial market to varying degrees.

Freddie Mac said in a press release this week that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages "averaged 5.66 percent with an average 0.8 point as of September 1, 2022."

That figure is "up from last week when it averaged 5.55 percent," Freddie mac noted, while “a year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.87 percent.”

Fifteen-year rates have seen an even starker jump, rising from 2.18% a year ago to just under 5% this week. 

The rising mortgages rates—which are spiking after hitting historic lows amid the economic slowdown of the pandemic—come as the Federal Reserve continues its strong-armed efforts to counteract spiraling inflation rates. 

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has warned that those efforts could result in near-term economic hardships, while the real estate market has experienced a significant cooldown in large part due to the high rates.