As of February, the monthly payment for the median-price single-family home sold in King County at current mortgage rates was $3,945.
The good news: This is down from an eye-watering $4,758 in October.
The bad news: This is up dramatically from just a year prior, and 59% higher than what we saw at the peak of the previous housing bubble.
Even if you adjust the July 2007 peak payment for inflation, it only comes out to about $3,586 in 2023 dollars, meaning that the October 2022 peak was 34% higher, and as of February homebuyers are still looking at payments 10% above the highest level recorded before the last housing bubble burst.
I don’t have a lot of commentary to add to this, just to say that this is clearly not sustainable, and in my opinion it’s not mortgage rates that need to come back down, it’s home prices.