High mortgage rates recall an era of … high mortgage rates

Meghan McCarty Carino Aug 18, 2023
Heard on:
HTML EMBED:
COPY
The last time mortgage rates were this high was the early 2000s. Even then, those rates were low compared to the 1980s. Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images

High mortgage rates recall an era of … high mortgage rates

Meghan McCarty Carino Aug 18, 2023
Heard on:
The last time mortgage rates were this high was the early 2000s. Even then, those rates were low compared to the 1980s. Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images
HTML EMBED:
COPY

The rising bond yields we’ve seen this week have sent mortgage rates soaring. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in the U.S. climbed above 7%, hitting its highest level in more than 20 years.

The higher borrowing costs are adding more pain to what is already a uniquely painful housing market. But when we talk about mortgage rates above 7%, it’s worth noting that we have experienced this before.

Things were different back in the early 2000s. Sure, the low-rise jeans and platform shoes look horrifyingly similar. But mortgage rates? Those hit different.

“If you look at that time, sort of in the 6s was pretty normal, so 7 was not a big deal,” said economist Richard Green at the University of Southern California.

Green bought a house in the ’90s at 8% interest and refinanced several years later at a low, low 6.5%. “I felt great about it,” he said. “Yeah, it was awesome.”

Rates were still on the downswing from what had happened more than a decade earlier.

“The shock in the 1980s was enormous,” said economist Eugene White at Rutgers University, referring to the Volcker shock — when Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker drastically hiked interest rates to quell inflation, sending mortgage rates to an all-time high of more than 18% in 1981.

“And it took a long time for them to come down,” White said.

All of which is not to scoff at the very real challenges of today’s housing market, said Jenny Schuetz, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

“People are having a hard time both on the price of the mortgage and on the price of the house, and that’s a pretty unusual situation historically,” she said.

Couple the previous era of low interest rates with a decade-plus of sluggish construction, and housing prices have far outpaced wages, Schuetz said — bringing angst to many potential homebuyers.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.