U.S. shoppers have faced sticker shock as goods from cars to steak to gasoline have gotten much costlier, in some cases very rapidly.
Now, consumers can add mortgages to the list. While interest rates are still quite low by historical standards — the average mortgage rate was in the double digits for most of the 1980s — economists say the sudden jump could be a shock to buyers and potentially the broader economy.
The most common average interest rate jumped by more than half a percentage point since March 10, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey. That amount — 0.57 percent, to be precise — might not sound like very much, but as mortgage rate movements go, a leap of more than half a percentage point in two weeks is eye-catching.
