For the first time in fourteen months, the cost of borrowing a home has crossed a threshold that carries weight beyond its arithmetic — 7.07 percent on a 30-year fixed mortgage, a number that quietly closes doors for some and forces difficult calculations for others. The movement originates not in the housing market itself but in the bond markets, where rising yields reflect a broader economic story still being written. What happens next in American homes — who buys, who waits, who stretches into riskier loans — will depend on forces that no single buyer, seller, or lender controls.