Mortgage interest rates are still on the rise! The rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage leapt to 5.42% from 5.38% last week, according to Freddie Mac. The rate increase is due in part to the climb in treasury yields on long-term government debt, as the two are closely related. Although the yields are falling back down from and 8-month high of 4.01%, the mortgage rates have not returned to the percentage that they once were.

With all the signs of a recovering market, the higher mortgage rates could be a threat to the market, as potential homebuyers may decide to hold off on home buying. The consumer confidence index now stands at 49.3, which is quite a significant difference from the May index of 54.8. May’s figures showed the highest level since September of 2008, when the level was 61.4.

According to Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, the decline in consumer confidence “continues to imply that economic conditions, while not as weak as earlier this year, are nonetheless weak.”