The War in Iran Just Froze the American Housing Market
Mortgage rates crossed 7% for the first time in 15 months, and the trigger wasn't the Federal Reserve or the jobs report — it was a war. The collapse of the US-Iran ceasefire has effectively handed control of America's housing market to events in the Persian Gulf, meaning the timeline for buying, selling, or refinancing a home in Ohio now runs through Tehran.
Bottom Line
This is less a story about a number crossing 7% and more about who now controls that number. With the US-Iran ceasefire dead and strikes ongoing, bond markets are pricing American home loans off the durability of Middle East diplomacy — and right now, they don't believe in it. Until markets see a truce that actually holds, the housing market's partial thaw is over, and the freeze could outlast the shooting.