A house under construction in Antioch, California in March. Rising mortgage rates threaten home affordability. Bloomberg
The market is finally getting the message that the era of cheap money is ending.
Just look at mortgage rates. At the beginning of 2022, the average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage hovered above 3%. Today it stands at 4.72%, according to Freddie Mac. That translates into sharply higher borrowing costs for Americans looking to buy a home — and it is only the beginning.
For the better part of the past 15 years, households and businesses paid very little to borrow. Americans could get cars and homes and the appliances to fill them at interest rates in the low single digits. Companies, especially profitable ones, could practically name their price in the…
