Published on 20 Mar 2024 on Benzinga
...People Not Living In Homes They Would Prefer' - D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI), Home Depot (NYSE:HD)
Mortgage lock-in is an often overlooked area of the U.S. housing market. It hampers the ability of homeowners to sell their properties, adding to the shortage in supply of available homes, pushing house prices ever higher.
Here’s the problem. Most of the 50 million active mortgages in the U.S. have fixed rates. Those taken out prior to 2022 when the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates will have fixed mortgage rates at far below the prevailing market rate, which creates a disincentive to sell.