The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages surpassed 7 percent for the first time since May, Freddie Mac reported on Thursday, extending a weekslong climb that could push more buyers and sellers to the sidelines.

Mortgage rates topped 7% this week, a key psychological threshold, in a sign of the US housing market’s unrelenting affordability challenges.

The elevated mortgage rates, which can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, have discouraged home shoppers, prolonging a national home sales slump that began in 2022.