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Refis Reheat In Otherwise Frozen US Housing Market
US housing (all housing, everywhere, now that you mention it) is sensitive to rates. By definition.
Regular Americans, and even most "irregular" ones, don't buy homes. Rather, they agree to a ridiculously long period of fixed monthly payments in a glorified rent-to-own arrangement with the bank.
Affordability, such as it is, thus hinges to a very large degree on the rate associated with those arrangements. On the off chance you haven't noticed, those rates rose quite sharply over the past coup
The purchase market probably needs a 5 handle on 30 yr fixed rates to revive, to unlock supply.