- we stop building more houses. That's what happened in 2008, and is one of the major causes of the current crisis
- it discourages turnover. IOW, people who should move for work/personal reasons don't because they're underwater or because selling would mean they lose the really nice rate they're currently locked in to. And without turnover, it becomes hard / expensive for people to buy.
The latter issue is a stupid technical reason. The second issue could be solved by transferrable mortgages.
I am a huge proponent of normalizing work from home / remote work for this reason. Arbitrary, economically forced turnover (i.e., location requirements from corporations) is very disruptive for human life and childhood development. As a kid, I averaged one move per year due to job availability being tied to location of said job. If housing turnover was primarily a matter of personal preference, not economic necessity, the world would be a more stable, healthier place.
Factory work cannot be done from home. With re-industrialization trying to take off, there will be more factory work, with many positions requiring highly educated / trained professionals.
Reindustrualization is coming with automation. The people building the factory will go to the next one when this is done so they can live anywhere. Many of the machines need a specialist to repair, so that person just needs good access to an airport and can live anywhere.
Some people will go in daily, but the days of thousands of Union workers in a factory are gone. It will be hundreds.
Transferable mortgages would be great or even just carry mortgages - if you are in a 300k house on a 3% mortgage you should be able to swap house (assuming all approvals and stuff) to another 300k house and keep the mortgage.
Might cause rates to rise a bit but probably worth it.
You can do most of this already, right? When you can choose from 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50 year mortgages, take your equity, swap to a new house, pick the mortgage closest to the term you want, and there you go.
You will never get 3% mortgages to follow you through any refinance - if people like the ability to lower by refinancing, the cost is that if you refinance under a worse time you get higher rates. If you want the ability to lock in a 3% loan no matter what changes you make, you will have to pay a premium, so you would not get the 3% to begin with.
- we stop building more houses. That's what happened in 2008, and is one of the major causes of the current crisis
- it discourages turnover. IOW, people who should move for work/personal reasons don't because they're underwater or because selling would mean they lose the really nice rate they're currently locked in to. And without turnover, it becomes hard / expensive for people to buy.
The latter issue is a stupid technical reason. The second issue could be solved by transferrable mortgages.