Mortgage rates hit two-year high

But, in a effort to calm markets, Chairman Ben Bernanke has tried to reassure investors that the central bank will keep interest rates near zero until the labor market improves substantially. That could mean at least another year or so. 

Still, the markets are reacting to talk that the stimulus, which has helped keep mortgage rates low, may be reduced soon. 

{mosads}They 10-year Treasury yield, which influences mortgage rates, hit 2.9 on Thursday, also a two-year high. 

There is some concern from housing market experts that rising rates, despite their still being around historic lows, could take some of the air out of the growing momentum of the housing market’s expansion and recovery. 

Amid those affordability issues, home sales and builder confidence have hit multi-year highs. 

In a separate report on Thursday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said prices were up 2.1 percent in the second quarter, compared with the first three months of the year. Prices are up 7.2 percent over the same quarter last year. 

“The housing market experienced one of its strongest quarters since the boom in the middle of the last decade,” said FHFA principal economist Andrew Leventis.