US Home Sales Thaw As Buyers Accept ‘New Normal’

Homebuyers in America are "get[ting] used to a new normal," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said Thursday. That new normal: Mortgage rates between 6% and 7% which, as I'm always keen to remind my younger readers, is actually the same as the "old" normal. Money wasn't always free. That's a post-Lehman phenomenon. There's nothing unreasonable about a 6.5% interest rate if what you're proposing is to borrow half a million dollars over 30 years. The problem's not the rate, the problem's the price.