Mortgage rates are surging to the highest level in 7 years
The average contract rate on the 30-year fixed will likely end the day as high as 4.875 percent for the highest creditworthy borrowers and 5 percent for the average borrower.
Tuesday's move follows positive economic data in retail sales, suggesting that newly imposed tariffs would not hit sales as hard as expected.
The surge in rates could not have come at a worse time for the spring housing market.