Central banks around the globe have been raising interest rates for over a year, and this has had an impact on housing affordability, according to a report from the OECD. The decline in home values has been most pronounced in New Zealand and Sweden, two countries which saw home prices spike higher at the beginning of the pandemic, and where mortgage rates float with short-term rates. The OECD believes the supply of homes for sale in these two countries has been inflated by forced sales due to affordability.
The appeal of fixed-rate mortgages
By Thomas K. Brown,
Central banks around the globe have been raising interest rates for over a year, and this has had an impact on housing affordability, according to a report from the OECD. The decline in home values has been most pronounced in New Zealand and Sweden, two countries which saw home prices spike higher at the beginning of the pandemic, and where mortgage rates float with short-term rates. The OECD believes the supply of homes for sale in these two countries has been inflated by forced sales due to affordability.