New Delhi, July 17 -- WASHINGTON - For the second year in a row, American homebuyers who held on through the spring hoping rates would fall found themselves priced out again at summer. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate reached 6.55 percent in the week ending July 17, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the highest reading in eleven months and a reminder that the path lower depends less on the Federal Reserve than on events in the Middle East.

The 10-year Treasury yield - which mortgage rates shadow closely - pushed to 4.57 percent as oil prices climbed on reports of fresh hostilities in the region. Realtor.com's senior economist attributed the week's move squarely to the conflict. "The conflict in the Middle East f...