Liniger, who co-founded real estate giant RE/MAX with his wife in 1973, doesn’t think mortgage rates are all that high today. After all, he recalls the early 1980s when the Federal Reserve’s war on inflation briefly spiked mortgage rates above 18%. “Everyone has been spoiled by the past 15 years of low interest rates,” Liniger, now the chairman of RE/MAX, told CNN.
What happens next will have huge impacts for home buyers. 61% of mortgages are below 4% That mortgage rate spike has frozen some housing activity by making purchases unaffordable for first-time homebuyers and unattractive for people who are locked into low-rate mortgages. “It’s very difficult to give up your home if you have a 2.9% mortgage,” said Liniger. “Because of that, people are reluctant to be a move-up buyer — or even a move-down buyer.