Soylent Green Is People said:
One has to wonder with 30 fixed likely to have 4.x rates seen only in a rear view mirror, and ARM rates eventually creeping above 4.5%, if a heavy brake will be applied to home sales based on psychology or affordability.
I've heard it before when rates were in the 3's moving to 4's that "I don't deserve a rate in the 4's!!" as a market rate would cause social discomfort at the weekend gatherings when people compare the rate they got to others. Still there are others looking at high rent now becoming competitive with high house payments and saying "meh, do I really need to own now?"
These are interesting times indeed.
Agree
Higher rates also affect the move up buyer locked into rates from say 3 or 4 years ago
I was at a conference last month in New York where a panel of economists and home builder experts were touting continued expanded cycle of housing starts to 1.4mm in the next 3 years but those charts and data don?t take into account this human behavioral bias
FWIW , I think the Fed is Locked And loaded now into a hike in December and 3-4 next year unless the equity market calls their bluff by selling off and by that I mean atleast 10 percent (where current fed chairs pain threshold is I guess) . This means mid to high 5 percent mortgages are not inconceivable => we start to see more arm product or looser standards to keep the party going ...