According to a poll released on Wednesday, the interest rate on the most common home loan in the United States last week surged to its highest level since September 2000, marking the seventh consecutive week of rate increases. This resulted in a 28-year low for mortgage applications.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the average contract rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage during the week ending October 20 was 7.9%, which was an increase of 20 basis points from the previous week.

“Mortgage activity continued to stall, with applications dipping to the slowest weekly pace since 1995,” MBA vice president and deputy chief economist Joel Kan said. “These higher mortgage rates are keeping prospective homebuyers out of the market and continue to suppress refinance activity.”

The cost of borrowing to buy a house has risen even as the Federal Reserve has put its inflation-fighting rate-hike campaign on pause, after lifting its benchmark policy rate from near zero in March 2022 to 5.25-5.50% in July of this year.