Get ready for mortgages to become more expensive – and stay that way.
The Obama administration has released its recommendations for reforming housing markets and overhauling the government’s role in backing mortgages. And virtually all of them involve pulling back the supports the government has traditionally provided to make home loans more affordable. Even the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, prepayable without penalty, which generations of homebuyers have come to regard as a near-birthright, could eventually be priced out of reach of many homebuyers and play a significantly reduced role in the housing market.