I don't know but I'm kind of getting the sneaking suspicion that mortgage rates aren't going to go down anytime soon:
Mortgage rates surged to a 23-year high this week, landing another blow on the housing market.
The rate on the average 30-year fixed mortgage increased to 7.31% from 7.19% the week prior, according to Freddie Mac. That's the highest rate since mid-December 2000, when it averaged 7.42%.
Yes, December 2000. Bill Clinton was still in the White House, albeit on his way out. AOL was still the dominant Internet provider. On Sunday evenings you could still catch an episode of The X-Files (the original, actually good X-Files) on Fox.
Needless to say, this will have a concurrently depressing effect on the housing market. Buyers won't buy. Sellers — who must also become buyers when they sell, at least if they want a new place to live — won't sell.
Housing stock will plummet, leaving the few remaining shoppers with even fewer choices, likely driving up housing prices even more. Which, when you've got sky-high interest rates, is not a good development for buyers.
A further incentive, of course, is that current homeowners have interest rates that are almost guaranteed to be lower than prevailing rates. As one analyst noted, "eighty percent of homeowners with a mortgage have a mortgage rate below 5%." You want to hold onto that rate like grim death in this economy.
Some experts, meanwhile, are warning the rate could approach 8% or more as the Federal Reserve indicates it will maintain high rates to bring down inflation, but the Fed is also paying $723 million a DAY in interest to keep this house of cards propped up, so how long it can keep up the show remains to be seen!
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