www.prioritygold.com
Domestic Real Estate
It’s a curious real estate conundrum when no one can afford to SELL a house and no one can afford
to BUY a house. Many American homeowners refinanced during the low mortgage rates prevalent
during the pandemic and locked in a 30-year fixed often under 3%. This has made them hesitant to sell
since rates have now more than tripled — dramatically increasing monthly payments for a new home
purchase. Homeowners have subsequently been shackled by ‘golden handcuffs.’ The term first coined
in the 1970’s to describe perks that kept executives in their jobs, now appropriately describes why
homeowners now feel trapped in their homes:
“In 2023, ‘golden handcuffs’ can more aplty be used as a term to describe why homeowners
hesitate to move. Selling their homes could mean giving up their low 2% to 3% mortgage rates
and taking on higher rates around 7% to 8%. Many potential move-up buyers find this rate
increase too costly. This, combined with near-record-high housing prices in many key markets,
has led to an unaffordability gap. This means many potential home sellers couldn’t sell even if
they wanted to.”10
With so many homeowners ‘staying put,’ housing inventory fell to record lows in 2023 pushing up prices.
And as mortgage rates skyrocketed to their highest levels in over 20 years, U.S. home sales fell to a two-
decade low due to a lack of affordability. This has led some real estate investors to warn of a coming
correction. “How do you make housing affordable? If you have to raise interest rates,” said Sean Terry,
the founder of Flip2Freedom, a community of real estate investors, “the prices have to come down.
Something will crack, and I think...we’re gonna have a Black Swan event probably in the next six-eight
months...that’s going to rock the markets.”11
10 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/golden-handcuffs-why-many-americans-191549718.html
11 https://www.newsweek.com/when-will-housing-market-burst-black-swan-timeline-1826148
IV. Real Estate Mayhem