The housing market enters uncharted waters

Source: Fortune — 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is done sitting idly on the sideline as inflation burns away Americans’ purchasing power. The plan? Draw upon the central bank’s decades-old inflation playbook by increasing rates until demand pulls back and price growth slows.

This is already presenting a test for runaway inflation’s poster child: the U.S. housing market. Even before the Federal Reserve issued its first rate hike last week, financial markets were pricing in higher mortgage rates. Back in December, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate stood at 3.11%. Now that rate is up to 4.16%.