Why the housing market is in for 'a challenging couple months'

The housing market was weak even before mortgage rates jumped, setting up more strain to come, Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale said.

"The housing market was not in a robust place to start off with. And then with mortgage rates moving up the way they have, I think we're going to see a challenging couple months ahead," Hale told Yahoo Finance.

Mortgage rates rose sharply in September , starting the month well below 7% and ending around 7.5%.

September home sales data released this week showed sales rose 1.5% last month from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.99 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. Compared to a year ago, sales are down 2.2%.

That data largely reflects homes that went under contract in August, when rates were beginning to rise but were well below recent highs — meaning sales activity for October could be especially weak.

"The housing market that people are facing today is in a very different place than the housing market that drove these September home sales," Hale said.

She noted that mortgage rates in August were closer to 6.7%. The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate loan was 7.58% on Wednesday, according to Mortgage News Daily.

"The housing market has some more headwinds on the horizon given where mortgage rates are today," Hale said.

Molly Moorhead is economics editor for Yahoo Finance.

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