US Mortgage Rates Surge to Highest Since November, Hitting 7.1%

[WarGamer]

This is important.

When polling shows the unpopularity of the economy...

Pretty much no one is judging GDP, UE numbers and certainly not the economies in other countries.

Average Americans spend money on food, shelter and transportation.

Food is crazy expensive and housing and automobiles are a lot more expensive than they were a few years ago.

Here are the details:

COVID pushed mortgage rates to sub 3% territory...

But the average between 2015 and 2020 is around 4%

So you were home shopping in 2019, before COVID...

With your income level, the bank will approve you for a 387,000 loan. With a 20% down payment, that's a $484,000 house.

$1848 payment.

So today... That 484,000 house, depending on region has appreciated 40-50% and now costs... approx $700,000

So a $140,000 down payment, $560,000 mortgage...

$3800 payment.






Oh and that new car...

2019 Toyota Camry, 3.9% interest rate.
30k car, assume no down, $468/mo

2024 Toyota Camry, 7.9% interest rate.
30k car, assume no down, $525/mo


Food, Housing, Transportation... that's what 90% of the population perceives as the "economy"

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-mortgage-rates-surge-highest-160000474.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKX5dMH2MLLnDOnPVW33q7vuODRIj7csMRwenuXcX9EZ9o48g_WoizQzAv_o_dY-3aNffUuOgma_ER6qLpi9opBVpI-_h2fxlcEHc5y41wGTH9dyizy3jt6b_0qeDvHkW9pjnSFNtqBcAA-Z-qe818q4QQl1U8wH6kWC2VRtHZMy

The average for a 30-year, fixed loan was 7.1%, up from 6.88% last week, Freddie Mac said in a statement Thursday.

Buyers are confronting a tough market with tight inventory. Rising borrowing costs and high prices have pushed the median monthly housing payment in the US to a record, according to Redfin Corp. That’s weighed on home sales, with transactions for previously owned properties dropping 4.3% in March from February, National Association of Realtors data showed.

“As rates trend higher, potential homebuyers are deciding whether to buy before rates rise even more or hold off in hopes of decreases later in the year,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in the statement.

[WarGamer]

1. Having said that... the rich are getting richer.

The upper middle class are stacking up BIG increases in earnings and are pushing housing prices waaaaay up...

We're looking at a younger generation that may NEVER be able to afford a home.

This is the least expensive SFH in my zip code.

$745,000

https://photos.zillowstatic.com/fp/6b6c0821232c2883b9a012ef5c36b413-uncropped_scaled_within_1536_1152.webp

[dsc]

2. It is hard to judge size from that photo

but my house is newer, has an attached garage, and I think is bigger. I got it for just under 200k

[WarGamer]

3. built in 63, remodeled to eliminate the garage but adding a bedroom and square footage, to 1015sf

[dsc]

4. Mine is 1407

and is 2 years old. Honestly that price is nuts.

[WarGamer]

5. We're a suburb, maybe an hour North of LA...

It's always been expensive here but has exploded in the last 5-10 years.

[WarGamer]

6. It's all Monopoly money here...

McDonalds workers make $20/hr...

And anyone with job experience or a decent Degree are making big bucks...

I retired pretty much in 2021 and my exact position now pays about 100k more than when I retired.

[dsc]

9. small town, eastern NC

I am about an hour out of Raleigh and a half hour out of Greeneville NC (college town). Part of me would like to afford to live in the likes of LA but I know I can't as a teacher. I can afford my place and the town, so far, is good so I am happy. 5.5 % mortgage will refinance if rates move down but for now will hold tight.

[WarGamer]

13. Must be beautiful...

[dsc]

18. photo street view

https://maps.app.goo.gl/i4ezMkCuHmNrVQ8S8

[WarGamer]

19. yup... my dreams are made of places like that.

I grew up in the Midwest... literally in an agricultural town, red brick schools and tornado sirens on phone poles.

Played "Army" in the corn fields.

Mom bought me an inflatable raft at age 10 which I took out on the local lake daily.

Proudly told my mother I wanted to be a mountain man when I grew up...

Played inside an old Washing Machine box that I had used paint to make look like a space ship and watched the moon landings on TV...

And then Mom moved to Southern California and I've been here or Scottsdale AZ ever since...

Still have a soft spot for more rural spots and places with actual seasons.

Thanks for sharing.

[blm]

7. GOP mega-donor, Steve Schwarzmann/Blackstone, is a mega-villain in housing market

Wall Street has purchased hundreds of thousands of single-family homes since the Great Recession. Here’s what that means for rental prices

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/21/how-wall-street-bought-single-family-homes-and-put-them-up-for-rent.html

[WarGamer]

8. outrageous...

We paid off our house in the 00's... best thing we've ever done.

Can NOT imagine being a first time home buyer. Or even renter...

[Johnny2X2X]

10. Buy a house, hold off on a car

House at 7.5% interest is fine and actually pretty normal historically. Then when interest rates go down you can refinance.

That interest rate on a car loan is not great and I would wait to huh until it goes down.

[Tommy Carcetti]

11. I just bought a new car last week.

3.9% interest rate.

I have very good credit and always pay my credit card bill in full monthly, but still.

Decent interest rates can be had.

[WarGamer]

12. Of course... but those are promotional rates, usually from auto mfg...

The lender can't even borrow from the Fed at that rate.

[ScratchCat]

14. Yet they can't name one legitimate economic reason

For rates to have climbed back from the mid 6% range.

Its all hocus pocus nonsense. They have been told over, and over, and over and over, they have destroyed the entire real estate market in this country with first holding them that low for that long and then turning around and raising them that fast. Mortgage interest rates had nada to do with "inflation" which is nothing more than wealthy corporations continuing to raise prices on consumer goods for no economic reason. All the low rates did was allow a small percentage of people(and already wealthy investors) to buy a home at an artificially low rate and now they are at an economic advantage over everyone else likely for the rest of their lives.

[Model35mech]

15. In 1983 average mortgage rate was 13.24%

Reagan went on to win a second term and in 1985 the avg rate was 12.96

I think interest rates hurt some candidates a lot more thana others.

[Kaleva]

16. It was 21% when I bought my first house.

I was an E-3 in the Navy at the time. The price was $45,000 and I put $20,000 down for a two story home on 57 acres of land .

[senseandsensibility]

17. The house down the street from me

broke down the mortgage payment for prospective buyers in the flyer given out. It was 9,000 dollars a month after putting 20% down! Whoa. Really puts it in perspective.