Commentary

Rising mortgage rates are costing new 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars in costs over the lifetime of a loan. Click through to find out what that means for new buyers.

“Elevated mortgage rates are preventing would-be buyers from buying and would-be sellers from selling. And because sellers aren’t selling, the buyers who are out there have very limited options,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather.

“First-time homebuyers are active and those entering the market have an edge as sellers are negotiating more and giving buyers a chance,” said RE/MAX President and CEO Nick Bailey.

“There are select data available to support several alternative views of the path of the economy, though we maintain our view that a modest recession will begin in the second half of 2023,” said Doug Duncan, SVP and Chief Economist at Fannie Mae.

"Home sales … remain above recent cyclical lows," said National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, who noted that economic factors were creating “an environment of push-pull housing demand.”

“Lack of existing inventory continues to drive buyers to new construction,” said National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist Robert Dietz.

“The housing market remains sluggish heading into the spring homebuying season. While mortgage rates have retreated from recent peaks, they remain elevated compared with one year ago,” Chief Economist Mark Fleming said.

A new blog post by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University examines the shrinking share of Americans that have moved over the last two years, falling back to numbers seen before the pandemic began.

This number is just above recorded lows set in January 2023.

“The relatively higher interest rate environment has depressed mortgage refinancing in particular. Interestingly, cash-out refinance hasn’t been as impacted as rate and term refinance,” according to Joe Mellman, SVP and Mortgage Business Leader at TransUnion.