Five charts to start your day

There's been a huge drop in the number of homes on the market

This is a great chart from Visual Capitalist. Although I’m not usually a fan of dual axis charts, this one tells the US housing story well. Rising long-term mortgage rates are having a major impact on the number of existing homes on the market.

The reason is quite simple. Homebuyers who took advantage of the once very attractive 30-year fixed rate deals during the Pandemic are now staying put. The same is true for anyone who bought a home in the decade that preceded the Pandemic, which was an era of ultra-low interest rates.

Who can blame them? No one wants to lose the previous great mortgage deals that they secured by purchasing a new home, hence the decline in sales.