U.S. mortgage interest rates reach 2006 high

STORY: U.S. mortgage rates have soared and are now at their highest level since right before the financial crisis.

The housing sector continues to bear the brunt of tightening rates from the Federal Reserve.

The average rate on the most popular U.S. home loan reached the highest level since two-thousand-and-six, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association released Wednesday.

Mortgage rates have more than doubled since the beginning of the year with the average contract rate on a thirty-year fixed-rate mortgage rising to over six-point-eight percent in the first week of October.

This is eroding affordability and pushing home buyers away. Mortgage loan application volume is down nearly seventy percent from a year ago and home resales fell for the seventh straight month as the Federal Reserve follows an aggressive path of interest rate hikes to tame inflation.

Fed chair Jay Powell said in September that central bank officials are “strongly resolved” to bring down inflation from its four-decade high, but it would take time.

"It would be nice if there were a way to, you know, just wish it away, but there isn't."

In the meantime, home prices remain high as there is still a shortage of properties for sale.