From brokers to bankers, investors to home buyers, anyone with a stake in the U.S. real estate market is keeping a watchful eye on the looming possibility of a historic interest rate hike. With inflation at a 40-year high, immense pressure is mounting on the Federal Reserve to institute a series of interest rate hikes of at least a quarter percentage point, and possibly even a half percentage point—a measure that hasn't been employed in more than two decades.