For the fourth consecutive week, American mortgage rates have climbed to the threshold of 7 percent — their highest point under the current administration — casting a long shadow over a housing market already struggling to breathe. The weight of rising borrowing costs falls unevenly but universally: on the young family calculating what they can afford, on the seller watching their pool of buyers quietly recede, and on a broader economy in which the home has long served as both shelter and aspiration. When the cost of belonging to a place rises faster than wages or confidence can follow, the di