Homebuyers can’t catch a break. Mortgage rates are edging closer to 6%.

The rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage increased to 5.81% this week from 5.78% last week, according to Freddie Mac. That rate remains at the highest level since November 2008 and is more than 2.5 points higher since the start of the year.

Surging mortgage rates have put both homeowners and potential buyers in a tough spot. While tight inventory levels and double-digit price gains threaten to price first-time buyers out of the market, rising rates have also left some homeowners hesitant to trade up or tap into their equity gains.

“The combination of rising rates and high home prices is the likely driver of recent declines in existing home sales,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, in a statement. “However, in reality many potential homebuyers are still interested in purchasing a home, keeping the market competitive but leveling off the last two years of red-hot activity.”

The slight increase in rates comes after the largest one-week gain since 1987 last week following the Federal Reserve’s hike of its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a point and its signaling of another increase of 1.75 percentage points over the rest of the year.

According to industry experts, the actions by the Fed are inevitably rippling through the housing market – cooling off the once-blistering market as summer begins.

“We’re already seeing some signs of waning demand in certain markets,” Robert Heck, vice president of mortgage at Morty, told Yahoo Money. “And this [Fed hike] would continue that trend, breaking the high-demand, low-inventory cycle we’ve seen over the past two years.”

Some eager buyers are racing to lock in rates before they move higher.

The volume of purchase mortgage applications increased for the second straight week, up 4.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association survey for the week ending June 17.