A Huge Number of Homeowners Have Mortgage Rates Too Good to Give Up
A Huge Number of Homeowners Have Mortgage Rates Too Good to Give Up
On a scale not seen in decades, many Americans are stuck in homes they would rather leave.
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This article reframes people being able to afford to stay in their homes as some kind of crisis.
Not present at any point in this article; any evidence that any American is stuck in a home they would rather leave. They couldn't even be bothered to quote a single homeowner who wanted to move let alone anything indicating that this is a common sentiment.
The only evidence cited are previous rates of housing mobility which are then taken simply as a natural norm with any deviation an unwanted aberration.
The idea that people might generally want to live in the homes they bought long term is not considered. The idea that those who move or downsize are often doing so reluctantly under pressure from their mortgage is not considered.
The average American stay in a home is has been ~8 years.
That number is going to double with rates like this.
Given that the American system is supposed to be a market that's a bad sign: frozen markets are not efficient markets.
This doesn't mean people can stay in their homes in a crisis: it means people can't move. A job the next city over would have to pay thousands more to make selling your home a rational decision. The article says it's on average $511/mo different.
A crisis still lands you homeless in America.
I'll grant you that the article is kind of shite, but as someone who is stuck in a house I'd rather be rid of, it resonated with me. I don't like my house.
We were first time buyers and ended up with a bit of a lemon, which we've put a lot of work into but it doesn't make it a house we love. We've been there for 7 years, we tried to move once and COVID fucked it up, and now we're stuck in a city suburb neither of us really want to live in anymore, in a house that we're sick of, with neighbors who are growing increasingly conservative that we would rather see the back of. Despite the fact that we've technically got over 100k equity on our house now thanks to value inflation we can't afford a move because even with a 100k down payment any house we actually want is now 450k+ and our monthly payments with a 7-8% mortgage rate would be 3x what our current payment is.
So like, yay, we have a house and at least that's good, and we're secure because our payments are low! But also, I want to fucking leave this place, I hate it, I hate my neighbors, I hate this state, and yeah, we're fucking stuck because even with all our newfound equity we're still poor af according to the rules of the game and it fucking sucks.