7% Mortgages Aren't Just Expensive -- They're Freezing America in Place
The average 30-year fixed mortgage hit 7.03% this week, crossing the 7% threshold for the first time since the beginning of last year. The obvious story is that homes just got more expensive to finance. The less obvious story -- and the more important one -- is that 7% doesn't just price people out of buying. It locks people into staying. And a country where nobody can afford to move is a country with a quietly stiffening economy.
Bottom Line
Crossing 7% is less about a single week's rate print and more about what it entrenches: a housing market where owners can't afford to sell, buyers can't afford to buy, and workers can't afford to move. That immobility is a slow structural drag, not a crash -- but it compounds. And with sources noting the milestone lands ahead of national elections amid cost-of-living frustration, housing affordability is moving from personal pain point to political fault line.