Hartford, Conn. ? First-time homebuyers set on finding the perfect starter this spring better look well beyond the down payment and asking price.

Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages are firmly above 6 percent, at their highest rate in eight months.

The average for 30-year, fixed-rate home loans jumped to 6.34 percent this week, from 6.12 percent a week ago, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. In September, the rate was 6.44 percent.

Eight straight weeks of increases have tacked nearly a full percentage point onto the 30-year borrowing rate, which hit a low this year of 5.38 percent in mid-March.

An increase of 1 percentage point on a 30-year, fixed-rate loan of $200,000 adds another $122.60 to the monthly mortgage payment.

Mortgage rates have risen steadily higher amid stronger-than-expected job growth nationally and the certainty that the Federal Reserve will raise short-term interest rates sooner than expected to stave off inflation.

When the Fed raises short-term interest rates, or signals it will, it doesn’t directly affect mortgage rates. But such moves ripple into the bond market, which does affect home loan rates.

Long-term mortgage rates are tied to the yield on 10-year Treasury notes. On Thursday, 10-year Treasuries rose to 4.852, up from 4.807 a day earlier.

Freddie Mac now expects 30-year rates to average 6.1 percent this year. That forecast is well above the 5.6 percent annual average Freddie Mac had forecast just last month.

Most economists have said they don’t expect 30-year rates to rise much above 6.5 percent at any point this year.

Amy Crews Cutts, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist, said she believed any imminent moves by the Fed already were factored into long-term mortgage rates. So there shouldn’t be much of a move — if any at all — when the Fed acts.