First, they had to battle the pandemic-induced buying frenzy. Now, potential home buyers are struggling with sky-high mortgage rates. Between the start of the summer and into the fall, there’s a “day and night difference,” Riddish Kankariya, 37, told MarketWatch. “It’s crazy. It’s kind of like the pressure we were under when it came to viewing homes and putting in bids at the start of COVID.”
In the last year, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage has jumped from 3.69% to 6.7%, according to Freddie Mac. That number in the last week touched 7%, before sliding down this week, based on Mortgage News Daily’s daily survey. “It’s become a numbers game,” Kankariya said. Surging rates pose a “developing threat to the reeling single-family housing market and broader economy,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, wrote in a note.
“‘It just feels like the middle class is getting pushed out.’”
— Erin Piedmont, a professor of social studies in Savannah, Ga.
…