It feels like the talk of interest rates and how high they are is everywhere. I don’t think I go a day without reading or hearing someone mention how high rates are. I do it myself as well. As a homeowner, I talk and think about the rate I got versus the rate I would get today. I found this chart put together by Axios with info from NYT and Federal Housing Finance Agency puts into perspective why it is such a prominent topic. Dating back to 1998, the gap has never been as wide as it is now.
When I shared this chart with someone who has bought homes since the 80s, I learned more about this delta further back in time. He told me about an assumable mortgage he used to finance a house in 1981. The market mortgage rate he said was 18% and he picked up the seller’s existing mortgage at 9% which is a wider delta than we have today. This gives me hope that America can get through this. We’ve done it before.
