FILE This is a home sold in Mount Lebanon, Pa., on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates resumed their ascent this week, Thursday, May 5, 2022, as the key 30-year loan reached its highest point since 2009. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

If you’re looking to buy a home using a mortgage, it’s continuing to keep getting more expensive, with the key 30-year mortgage rate reaching 5.27 percent, up from 5.1 percent last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported yesterday (May 5th), its highest point since 2009. One year ago, it was 2.96 percent. The increase was in the week before the Federal Reserve announced an increase in the benchmark interest rate by a half-percentage point and signaled more hikes are coming as they try to tame high inflation, which will bring even higher costs for mortgages. The rising rate adds to difficulties prospective home buyers are already facing of high home prices amid a tight supply. Because of those factors, some economists suggest the red-hot housing market could calm down this year with as much as a 10 percent fall in home sales from 2021.