"The mortgage rate is very high in this country," putting a drag on the economy as housing-related companies struggle, CNBC's Jim Cramer says.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate was at 4.85 percent on Thursday, according to Freddie Mac, after spiking to 4.9 percent the prior week.
Rising mortgage rates may really start to hurt the economy, consumer spending and company earnings soon, CNBC's Jim Cramer warned on Monday.
"We're going to see more and more bad earnings because [a] 5 percent mortgage is the end, that is the line in the sand," Cramer said Monday on "Squawk on the Street." "The mortgage rate is very high in this country."
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate was at 4.85 percent on Thursday, according to Freddie Mac, after spiking to 4.9 percent the prior week in the rising bond-yield environment. A year ago, the 30-year mortgage was at 3.88 percent.
In recent weeks, Cramer has been critical of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, saying the central bank is not taking into account signals of a slowing economy, particularly in housing-related companies, in charting a course for interest rates next year.
Cramer has also been urging the Fed to go back to being data-dependent to determine whether more rate hikes are needed, and not to be blinded by an arbitrary desire to normalize monetary policy.
The Fed raised rates three times this year, and another hike is expected in December.
Earlier this month, Powell sparked concerns on Wall Street after he said rates are a long way from neutral, a level of being neither accommodative nor restrictive to the economy.