Mortgage rates zoom past 5%

Mortgage rates swelled above 5% for the first time in more than a decade – a rapid ascent that has begun to temper the U.S. housing boom.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit the threshold just five weeks after surpassing 4%, according to Freddie Mac data released Thursday. The average has not been this high since February 2011.

The run-up comes as the Federal Reserve has launched a major initiative to rein in the highest inflation in 40 years. Fed officials are betting that higher interest rates will slash inflation and recalibrate the job market. But their plan also assumes that higher rates will cool demand for housing, especially while homes themselves are in such short supply.

PAVEL GOLOVKIN AP The missile cruiser Moskva, left, shown in 2014, was built in Ukraine in the Soviet era. It sank Thursday.