Shanne Sleder, a San Diego mortgage banker, recently had to break the bad news to some would-be homebuyers: Borrowing costs jumped about 6 percent since he pre-approved them a couple months ago.

The average rate for 30-year home loans climbed this week to 4.38 percent, the highest since April 2014, according to Freddie Mac data released today. Inflation fears have sent yields for the 10-year Treasury, a benchmark for mortgages, soaring -- and buyers are now rushing to lock in rates before they go even higher.

“At this point in time, people don’t like it but they can still make it work,” Sleder said. “It hasn’t gotten to where people are starting to back out of deals yet. As we get closer to 5 percent, that’s when they will start thinking about it.”

The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.3 percent in January from the prior month, the biggest advance in a year, a Labor Department report showed Wednesday. That spurred speculation that the Federal Reserve will increase rates faster than had been anticipated, according to Aaron Terrazas, senior economist at Zillow.

“The trend in mortgage rates is clearly upward and home shoppers are increasingly having to grapple with how higher mortgage rates will shift their budgets,” Terrazas said in a statement.

The monthly payment on a $300,000, 30-year loan has jumped to $1,499 from $1,394 in September, when the average rate was 3.78 percent.

This article was provided by Bloomberg News.