Mortgage rates are back above 7% for the first time this year, according to a survey released Wednesday, unwelcome news for homebuyers as more stubborn than hoped-for inflation keeps borrowing costs at historically high levels.

Mortgage rates hovered at an all-time low of below 3% throughout 2020 and 2021 as the federal funds rate sat at close to zero during the early days of the pandemic. But mortgage rates spiked as the Fed hiked interest rates to their highest level since 2001 in a bid to tame inflation, with 30-year fixed mortgage rates hitting a 23-year high of 7.8% in November, according to government-backed mortgage provider Freddie Mac. Mortgage rates declined considerably over the last weeks of 2023 as promising inflation data translated to increased optimism about a pivot by the Fed, but the market has since reversed course as inflation remains well above the Fed’s 2% annual target. Yields for 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds, which serve as a proxy for medium-term interest rate expectations and typically move in the same direction as mortgage rates, have shot up more than 30 basis points this month.