A for sale sign in front of house on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. © Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
(New York, NY) — Record high mortgage rates are forcing many Americans to keep on renting. Developers say they are now renting many of the new houses they have built instead of have them sit empty. In 2023, 93-thousand new single-family homes were rented. Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies finds the median American renter spends at least 31-percent of their income on housing. Builders are betting that home unaffordability means even relatively affluent Americans will remain renters.
Don’t expect interest rates to fall anytime soon. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says inflation readings are higher than expected and the Fed needs to be “patient” until they come down. He also said it’s unlikely there will be a rate hike based on the data. The Fed has been holding its key borrowing rate at five-and-half percent which is the highest level in more than two decades.
