Mortgage rates highest since 2008 as housing market continues to cool off

Mortgage rates have reached their highest levels in nearly 15 years, a factor that's contributing to a continued cooling of a housing market that's been white-hot for over two years. 

Data from Freddie Mac show mortgage rates at just under 6 percent, the highest rate the country has seen since November of 2008. 

Those numbers represent a steep increase from last year, when a 30-year fixed mortgage rate went as low as 2.8 percent. 

The increase comes as the Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates in an effort to combat spiraling inflation, raising fears of a potential recession and bringing nonstop real estate sales to something of a grinding halt in recent months. 

Home sales have dropped notably over the first half of 2022, with the National Association of Realtors noting that May marked the fourth straight month of decline for existing-home sales.

"Home sales have essentially returned to the levels seen in 2019 – prior to the pandemic – after two years of gangbuster performance," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in the release.

The organization said that "total housing inventory registered at the end of May was 1,160,000 units," which it said represented a 12.6% increase from April.