抵押贷款利率已升至近三年来最高水平，使得在房价本就高企的当下，购房变得更加困难。
Mortgage rates have hit their highest level in almost three years, making buying a home more challenging at a time when housing prices are already high.
Nam Y. Huh/AP 凯莉·戈德斯坦（Carrie Goldstein）的新家梦想，始于她在密尔沃基表亲家中的一次家庭聚会。那栋房子虽然老旧，却充满个性，而且从家门口出发，几乎可以步行去任何地方。
Nam Y. Huh/AP Carrie Goldstein's dream for a new home started with a family reunion at her cousin's home in Milwaukee. The home was old with character and she could walk anywhere from the front door.
“我们对它的步行友好性简直惊叹不已，甚至都流口水了，”戈德斯坦说。
"We were kind of in awe and drooling over her walkability," Goldstein says.
这正是戈德斯坦想要的生活方式，但她在克利夫兰的郊区却体验不到。她说，那个郊区其实也挺适合步行的——但有一个大问题。
It was the lifestyle Goldstein wanted but lacked in her Cleveland suburb, which she says is also pretty walkable – with one major issue.
“那里有很多人行道，”她说，“但真正能去的地方却不多。”她和丈夫一起探讨后意识到，附近的罗基河（Rocky River）才是他们想要居住的地方。那里虽然仍是郊区，但拥有古朴的市中心，而且可以步行抵达伊利湖。
"There are lots of sidewalks," she says. "But you can't really go anywhere." She brainstormed with her husband and realized nearby Rocky River was where they wanted to live. It was still a suburb, but with a quaint downtown and the option to walk to Lake Erie.
然而，尽管她非常想搬家，有一件事却让她彻底止步——她需要支付的抵押贷款。抵押贷款利率已升至近三年来最高水平，在房价同样高得离谱的当下，这让许多人根本无力购房。
But as much as she wanted to move, one thing stopped her cold. The mortgage she would have to pay. Mortgage rates have hit their highest level in almost three years, making buying a home impossible for many people at a time when housing prices are also sky high.
戈德斯坦正面临一个影响众多家庭的问题，而人们此前已经因持续多年的高通胀而苦不堪言：借贷成本的不断上升。
Goldstein is running into a problem that's affecting many households at a time when people have already been struggling with years of high inflation: The rising cost of borrowing.
2026年10月4日，凯莉·戈德斯坦站在自家住宅外。高房价和抵押贷款利率让她无法搬家。
Carrie Goldstein stands outside her home on October 4, 2026. Home prices and mortgage rates prevent her from moving.
Mike Goldstein 债券市场影响着经济中各类借贷成本——随着收益率飙升至数十年来最高水平，消费者为住房、汽车和高等教育等各类贷款所支付的利率也随之上升。
Mike Goldstein Bond markets influence all types of borrowing costs across the economy – and as yields have surged to their highest in decades, they've pushed up all kinds of interest rates paid by consumers, from loans for homes to cars and higher education.
而且，在美联储今年9月首次加息，并暗示今年可能还会进一步加息之后，这些利率很可能还会继续上涨。
And those rates are likely to continue moving up after the Federal Reserve in September raised interest rates for the first time this year – while signaling an additional hike could come this year.
美联储加息措施正逐步传导至整个经济体系，其目的就是通过提高贷款成本来抑制消费者和企业的支出意愿——毕竟对许多人而言，购买汽车或住房都是必不可少的开支。
Rate hikes from the Federal Reserve filter through the economy and are meant to slow down consumer and business spending by making people hesitant to take out a more expensive loan to pay for a car or a home – both essential purchases for many people.
“如果你现在需要贷款，那可真不是个好时机，”贝克研究所税收与预算政策中心的高级主任约翰·戴蒙德说道。
"If you need to borrow, boy, it's really not a good time," says John Diamond, senior director of the Center for Tax and Budget Policy at the Baker Institute.
房地产市场依然处于低迷状态。购房行为正是经济中借贷成本上升对家庭产生影响的典型例证。
The housing market remains in the slumps Buying a home is a key example of how households are affected when borrowing costs rise in the economy.
今年年初时房贷利率曾出现下降趋势，但随后由于美国与伊朗爆发冲突，市场对通胀的担忧加剧，进而引发债券市场动荡，导致房贷利率再度上行。受此影响，与债券市场紧密相关的房贷利率在今年大幅攀升。
While mortgage rates were falling at the start of this year, they reversed upward after the U.S. war with Iran spooked the bond market by raising worries about inflation. As a result, mortgage rates, which are influenced by the bond markets, have surged this year.
以目前30年期固定房贷利率7.28%的水平为例，对于一套价格处于中位数的住房而言，购房者最终需支付的利息总额将比疫情期间的3%利率水平多出约900美元。
For example, at the current 7.28% level for the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage, a person could end up paying about $900 more compared with the 3% pandemic-era rates for a median priced home.
不出所料，即便有些房主早已需要更换更大的住房，如今也因无力承担高额贷款成本而望而却步。据全美房地产经纪人协会数据显示，8月份的二手房成交量较去年同期下降了约1.2%。
As expected, fewer homeowners are willing or capable of making that financial leap, even if they have long since outgrown their current home. Existing house sales in August were down about 1.2% from a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors.
汽车贷款成本也即将上涨。让像戈尔茨坦这样的美国人感到压力的，并不仅仅是房贷费用。
Car loans are about to get more expensive It's not just mortgage costs that are making Americans like Goldstein wince.
除了渴望在交通便利的社区购置房产外，戈尔茨坦也打算换一辆新车。她的旧车已经使用了11年，行驶里程达15万英里，毛病不断；维修费用甚至快赶上这辆车的实际价值了。
Alongside her dreams of owning a home in a walkable neighborhood, Goldstein is ready for a new car. Her old one is 11 years old, has 150,000 miles and plenty of quirks. The repair costs are approaching the point where they'll be more than the value of the actual car.
不过，自2022年初起，汽车贷款利率便开始脱离疫情期间的低位水平并持续上升，如今购买二手车的四年期贷款利率较两年前已高出约3个百分点。
But a four-year loan for a used car is about three percentage points higher compared with the start of 2022, right around when auto loans began to shed their pandemic-era low rates and started climbing up.
“现在，每月花150美元或180美元根本买不到车了，”她谈到自己将来可能要承担的汽车贷款时说道。
"You can't go and get a car for $150 or $180 bucks anymore a month," she says about the car payments she would be facing.
虽然目前美联储仅将利率上调了0.25个百分点，但在普通家庭已然面临通货膨胀及其他各类借贷成本上升的情况下，这一举措无疑进一步加重了他们的经济负担。
Although so far the Fed has only delivered a modest quarter of a percentage point, it's adding to the higher borrowing costs at a time when households are already dealing with inflation and higher prices for other types of borrowing.
“这导致房贷、学生贷款支出都增加了，物价也因通胀而上涨，”戴蒙德说道，“正是这些因素让生活变得异常艰难。”这样一来，许多家庭恐怕会继续推迟那些需要贷款才能完成的重大消费。
"It's added to higher mortgage payments. Higher student loan payments. Higher prices because of inflation," Diamond says. "That's what makes it really painful." And that could mean that households could continue to delay any big purchases requiring a loan.
戈尔茨坦就是其中之一。她说自己暂时可以等一等再买车买房，但后来她还是取消了那个宜居郊区地区的房产资讯订阅服务。
Goldstein is one of them. She says she can afford to wait on the car and house. But eventually she unsubscribed from real estate updates for that walkable suburb.
“每次算一算账，我就越发灰心丧气，”戈尔茨坦说，“这根本不是我现在能负担得起的事。”
"It just became more and more disheartening when I did the math," Goldstein says. "It's just not in the cards."