As Mortgages Lock Homeowners In Place, Remodeling Comes Of Age

The costs to purchase a new home right now continue to escalate, putting it out of reach for much of the population, driving more households to stay in place and do what they can to maintain, repurpose and reimagine their homes.

Many of the households currently on 15- and 30-year mortgage payment plans are at rates below 5%. Now, mortgage rates have skyrocketed to their highest levels in about 15 years. So, at the new rates, a home buyer would add more than $40,000 to the life of the loan on an average home purchase. With that said, it’s no wonder that a recent Zillow report noted that homeowners with mortgage rates below 5% are nearly twice as likely to want to stay put in their current home.