CNN

U.S. mortgage rates rose again this week, the fourth-straight weekly increase. That rise in borrowing costs has undone some of the relief Americans felt this summer when mortgage rates fell in anticipation of a rate cut from the Federal Reserve as inflation improved. Sales of previously owned homes, which make up the vast majority of the market, fell 1% in September from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.84 million, the National Association of REALTORS® said Wednesday, the lowest rate since October 2010. Every percentage point on a mortgage rate makes a big difference for that monthly payment. But a persistent lack of homes on the market is continuing to push up home prices, which climbed in September for the 15th consecutive month, according to NAR data — on top of skyrocketing home insurance costs in some markets. "We have this large budget deficit, so any time the government has to borrow, borrow and borrow, that just means that there is less mortgage money available for lending into the housing market, all else equal, so maybe the deficit is also hindering some of the mortgage rate decline potential," Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, told reporters Wednesday.

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