--- title: The Cost of Buying a House Reaches a New Record High description: The cost of buying a home hit a new record high thanks to rising house prices and mortgage rates. The typical monthly payment is now $2,775. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter at Money who frequently covers news stories about housing topics including home buying, mortgage rates and homeowners insurance. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 600 covers: - Housing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Housing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2024-04-19T19:48:33.000Z' modified: '2024-04-19T19:48:33.000Z' section: Housing tags: - News word_count: 418 canonical: https://money.com/cost-of-buying-house-record-high/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We may earn a fee if you click on the links below. Compensation does not determine ranking. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Illustration of a rising arrow in the shape of a house with the words "For Sale"](https://img.money.com/2024/04/News-Home-Prices-Record-High.jpg) A spike in mortgage rates — plus high prices in the current spring market — pushed the cost of a home purchase up to a new all-time high. The median monthly payment for a home climbed to $2,775, which is a record high and an 11% increase from a year ago, according to [Redfin](https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-home-prices-mortgage-rates-increase/). [Current mortgage rates](https://money.com/current-mortgage-rates/) are a big reason why costs are so high for homebuyers now. Mortgage rates closely depend on the Fed’s benchmark rates and expectations about where they’re headed. When inflation numbers came in hot last week, it pushed back expectations about when the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. Bank of America, for example, now only expects [one interest rate cut](https://money.com/fed-interest-rate-cuts-predictions-2024/) this year — and not until December. And on Tuesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell confirmed that it will “likely to take longer” to reach the appropriate time to cut, considering the recent data. It was the opposite of what potential homebuyers wanted to hear. These developments contributed to a one-week jump in mortgage rates of nearly a quarter of a percentage point. ## Housing costs jump as mortgage rates exceed 7% According to Freddie Mac, the rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan averaged 7.10% for the week ending April 18, which is the highest average so far this year. (Redfin’s analysis is based on different mortgage data that places the average at 7.4%.) Despite high mortgage rates, home prices are still climbing. The median sale price over the past four weeks was $380,250, which is 5% higher than the median at the same time last year, according to Redfin. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) similarly reports that existing-home sale prices are up 4.8% in the past year. Even as the inventory of homes for sale increased nearly 5% from February to March, “the increased competition among sellers didn’t appear to hurt home prices,” the NAR said in a [report](https://www.nar.realtor/magazine/real-estate-news/home-sales-tumble-but-theres-hope-for-a-turnaround). In a separate [analysis](https://www.zillow.com/research/march-existing-home-sales-2024-33966/) of the NAR's latest data, Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow, explained that sellers are coming off the sidelines this [spring home-buying season](https://money.com/home-buying-guide-spring-2024/), but “buyers — faced with a sharp increase in mortgage rates at the start of the year — have been slower to return.” The good news: As home inventories rise amid lower buyer demand, house hunters should start to see some price cuts soon, Divounguy adds. ## Buy your new home with more convenience and less hassle ### A Mortgage Expert at Rocket Mortgage (NMLS #3030) can lend you a hand for a smoother process. Your dream home is possible. Click below to make it happen. [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/u918d32af718?ap_referrer=%2Fcost-of-buying-house-record-high%2F) ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/26681/medium_57f09f10-efb8-487d-a73e-5f7d605144eb.png) Imagine finally owning your dream home — Rocket Mortgage (NMLS #3030) can help! [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/t39f99e0e0ab?ap_referrer=%2Fcost-of-buying-house-record-high%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/cost-of-buying-house-record-high/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Housing", "item": "https://money.com/housing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Home Buying", "item": "https://money.com/home-buying/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Cost of Buying a House Reaches a New Record High" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/cost-of-buying-house-record-high/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/cost-of-buying-house-record-high/", "name": "The Cost of Buying a House Reaches a New Record High", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-04-19T19:48:33.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/cost-of-buying-house-record-high/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/cost-of-buying-house-record-high/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-19T19:48:33.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "The Cost of Buying a House Reaches a New Record High", "articleSection": "Housing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/04/News-Home-Prices-Record-High.jpg", "width": 2016, "height": 1344, "caption": "News-Home-Prices-Record-High" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter at Money who frequently covers news stories about housing topics including home buying, mortgage rates and homeowners insurance.", "image": "https://img.money.com/2023/02/peter.png?w=350&h=430&crop=1", "email": "peter.grieve@money.com", "jobTitle": "Lead News Reporter", "alumniOf": "University of Chicago, BA Political Science", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/pete_grieve", "https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138", "https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4" ], "worksFor": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2024-04-19T19:48:33.000Z", "description": "The cost of buying a home hit a new record high thanks to rising house prices and mortgage rates. 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