It's outside the US too, but holy moly is it dirt cheap in the US, averages not even 4% [1]. When I looked last year RBC showed like 8% (now 9.75%[2]) for 25 years fixed in Canada; tougher choice against 5 year terms than down South.

1: https://policyadvice.net/insurance/insights/mortgage-statist...

2: https://www.ratehub.ca/best-mortgage-rates/25-year/fixed

> holy moly is it dirt cheap in the US, averages not even 4%

That's out of date, its above 5% now: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US/

I mean that real estate prices get hit hard. The consequences of that may vary depending on where you are, what you've borrowed, and what you own.

Granted!

I just wanted to call out that must-sell (2008, falling market prices, unaffordable adjustable high-rate mortgages, low inflation) is different than can-hold (falling market prices, affordable recent low-rate mortgages, high inflation).

If you've got a fixed-rate mortgage at 3%, there are worse forms of debt...

And the must-sell, can-hold (and I'd add must-hold, where you can afford what you have but any buy+sell would be result in an untenable downgrade) statuses have a big impact on prevailing prices .. since you don't get the fire sell busts outside of must-sell

Don't forget CA Prop 13 [1]

Boomers all over Silicon Valley are still paying 1976 tax rates on their properties worth $2m+ now. Disneyland is a huge beneficiary[2], but ANY efforts to reform Prop 13, even just for commercial, are met with "slippery slope" arguments from the same boomer homeowners (and PR campaigns funded by real estate groups that benefit from it).

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_California_Proposition_13

2: https://www.curbed.com/2020/10/prop-15-california-property-t...

> Boomers all over Silicon Valley are still paying 1976 tax rates on their properties worth $2m+ now

Prop 13 limited tax increases to 2% a year, not zero. No one is paying 1976 rates.

They're paying (at most) 2.5x what they paid in 1976 (1.02 ^ (2022-1976)). In the grand scheme of things, that's not far off from 1976 rates, given that many properties have appreciated 10-20x.