by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
Fascinating: “Prices that families pay” when they buy homes “can affect their overall well-being.”
The housing sector – rental market and purchase market – is one of the most interest rate-sensitive sectors of the economy and “an important channel of monetary policy transmission,” Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said today at the Mortgage Bankers Association conference. In plaintext, as we’ll see in a moment: The Fed is counting on its higher policy rates to do their thing to the housing market (rental and purchase), with the ultimate goal of lowering demand by households in the broad economy.