Mortgage rates at 7.40% — highest in over a year. People forget how abnormal 2020-2021 was.
Look at the decades:
• 1980s averaged 12.7%
• 1990s: 8.1%
• 2000s: 6.3%
We hit 2.65% in early 2021. That was the anomaly, not today's rate.
Yes, 7.40% stings if you're buying now. But historically? This isn't some crisis level. It's closer to normal than the free-money era we got hooked on.
The real problem: people anchored to 3% rates thinking that was permanent. It wasn't. Policy tightened, inflation showed up, and rates adjusted.
If you're waiting for sub-3% again, you might be waiting a very long time. The 2010s average was 4.1%. We're above that now, but we've also been spoiled.
Buying a house is still about whether you can afford the payment and plan to stay long enough for it to make sense. Rate obsession is just another form of trying to time the market.
Perspective matters. 7.40% isn't the end of the world — it's just not free anymore.
Look at the decades:
• 1980s averaged 12.7%
• 1990s: 8.1%
• 2000s: 6.3%
We hit 2.65% in early 2021. That was the anomaly, not today's rate.
Yes, 7.40% stings if you're buying now. But historically? This isn't some crisis level. It's closer to normal than the free-money era we got hooked on.
The real problem: people anchored to 3% rates thinking that was permanent. It wasn't. Policy tightened, inflation showed up, and rates adjusted.
If you're waiting for sub-3% again, you might be waiting a very long time. The 2010s average was 4.1%. We're above that now, but we've also been spoiled.
Buying a house is still about whether you can afford the payment and plan to stay long enough for it to make sense. Rate obsession is just another form of trying to time the market.
Perspective matters. 7.40% isn't the end of the world — it's just not free anymore.