Mortgage rates. They’re high. Or at least they surely seem that way to aspiring homeowners who aren’t old enough to remember the last time financing costs sported a six-handle, let alone seven.

On Wednesday, an update on the MBA’s index showed rates trekked to 7.24% over the last week, and it’s no secret why: We’re coming off a pretty sharp rates re-pricing which saw 10-year US yields rise ~50bps from late-March through mid-month.

This isn’t necessarily the stuff exciting headlines are made of, but I can assure you: Legions of desperate renters all over America are plenty “excited” about it. Where “excited” means they’re ready to leap off the fourth floor of the claustrophobic apartment they’re renting for 50% more than the median pre-pandemic mortgage payment.

The latest weekly increase marked the third consecutive double-digit WoW gain for a cumulative 33bps since April 3. That’s not trivial. I hope you locked in March if you succumbed to spring FOMO.

Rates are now the highest since late November, and have retraced nearly a third of the relief that accompanied the late-year Treasury rally.

“Rates continued to move higher last week… putting a damper on applications activity,” MBA VP Joel Kan said Wednesday, adding that buyers put off purchases “due to strained affordability and low supply.”

Not surprisingly, ARMs’ share of applications rose and refi activity receded.

This is just the dynamic that’s keeping the US housing market frozen: Buyers can’t buy (because they don’t have enough money) and sellers can’t sell (because nobody wants to swap a four-handle mortgage for a seven-handle).

As Jerome Powell patiently explained to Congress last month, “You have a shortage of homes available for sale because many people are living in homes with a very low mortgage rate and can’t afford to refinance, so they’re not moving, which means the supply of regular existing homes that are for sale is historically low and a very low transaction rate.”

That, he went on, “pushes up the prices of other existing homes and also of new homes because there’s just not enough supply.”