Mortgage rates hit their highest level in more than seven years this week at nearly 5 percent, a level that could deter many home buyers and represents another setback for the slumping housing market, the Wall Street Journal reported. The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.9 percent — the largest weekly jump in about two years — according to data released Thursday by mortgage-finance giant Freddie Mac. Lenders and real-estate agents say that, even now, all but the most qualified buyers making large down payments face borrowing rates of 5 percent. A 5 percent mortgage rate isn’t that high by historic standards. During much of the decade before the financial crisis, these rates hovered between 5 and 7 percent.
