美国国家公共电台 NPR--As mortgage rates rise, some people are giving up on owning a home

As mortgage rates rise, some people are giving up on owning a home

Transcript¹

Mortgage rates are up near 7%. That's adding nearly $1,000 a month to the mortgage payment for a typical house, sending home ownership beyond reach for more and more Americans.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

With mortgage rates hovering² around 7%, some people are giving up on the dream of buying a home. Monthly mortgage payments for a typical home are now nearly $1,000 higher than they were at the start of the year. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE³: These days, Andrea Johansen and her husband Mike are not living their best life.

MIKE JOHANSEN: So over here is the camp trailer that we're staying in.

ARNOLD: It's a temporary thing. But for now, they're living crammed⁴ into a small camping trailer at Andrea's parents' farm in western Massachusetts, right across from a barn with more than a hundred chickens.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHICKEN SQUAWKING)

ANDREA JOHANSEN: They're kind of calm right now. I mean, they were going bonkers. It starts at like 4:30 in the morning. You're trying to have Zoom⁵ calls for work in the afternoon. And when the sun starts going down, they start all over again.

JOHANSEN: They start squawking.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHICKEN SQUAWKING)

ARNOLD: The couple thought they'd be in a newly built house by now. But with supply chain delays, it's not finished. And so what was supposed to be a quick stay in the camper between homes has dragged on. And now, at today's rates, it looks like getting a $360,000 mortgage is going to cost them about $800 more every month, which is going to be tough.

JOHANSEN: Well, we're living in the trailer because we can't afford to live anywhere else. Our belongings⁶ are in storage, and that's almost $1,000 a month.

ARNOLD: Mike's a CPA, and Andrea works as an engineer. They say they'll be able to afford the higher mortgage payment, but it means they can't spend or save money on other important things.

JOHANSEN: I'm 41 years old. I need to save for retirement⁷, you know?

ARNOLD: Some people are having to back out of buying a house at all. In Colorado, 32-year-old Hillary Tollerud-Ho had also agreed to buy a new home. But with the higher rates, she and her husband can't qualify for a mortgage anymore.

HILLARY TOLLERUD-HO: We were told we'd have to pay off my husband's credit card and have to have $100,000 down, and there's no way we had that.

ARNOLD: The couple lost a thousand-dollar deposit they had put down, and they could've lost more.

TOLLERUD-HO: Luckily, the builders were more than understanding. Like, they didn't need to, according to the contract we had signed, but they returned the $5,000 earnest money.

ARNOLD: The higher mortgage rates are putting homeownership out of reach for millions of people. The pace of sales has fallen for seven months in a row, and it's no longer a frenzied⁸ housing market, with bidding wars and a bunch of offers on every home. Daryl Fairweather is the chief economist⁹ at Redfin.

DARYL FAIRWEATHER: What we're experiencing now is, like, a hangover from this party in the housing market that was going on for the last two years. And that party was fueled by cheap debt from the Federal Reserve. And now, inflation is ending the party.

ARNOLD: The Fed kept rates super low during the pandemic, and that helped drive home prices up massively - between 30% and 40% in just two years. Now, to fight inflation, the Fed is raising rates, and that's thrown cold water on the housing market. As far as home prices, though, they've fallen a bit the past couple of months, but Fairweather doesn't see big price drops ahead.

FAIRWEATHER: We're forecasting that home prices will be flat next year, year over year. Housing looks pretty resilient right now. You know, a recession might change how sturdy it is. But for now, it's been incredibly sturdy.

ARNOLD: The biggest factor propping¹⁰ up prices is that we just don't have enough homes. After the last housing crash, many builders lost money, and we didn't build enough for a decade.

FAIRWEATHER: Mortgage rates going up and down doesn't do anything to solve the housing supply shortage. That's going to be there.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROOSTER CROWING)

ARNOLD: Back by the chicken barn, Andrea and Mike Johansen are hoping that rates fall before their house finally gets built so they can lock in a lower rate.

JOHANSEN: Man, we're hoping, by the time we close - 'cause they keep they keep pushing us out. They pushed us out again, to the end of November - that maybe they'll come down a little bit between now and then - maybe?

JOHANSEN: Maybe. I don't think so.

JOHANSEN: I don't think it's going to happen either, but there's wishing, hoping and praying.

ARNOLD: Chris Arnold, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 hovering   

鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• The helicopter was hovering about 100 metres above the pad. 直升机在离发射台一百米的上空盘旋。
• I'm hovering between the concert and the play tonight. 我犹豫不决今晚是听音乐会还是看戏。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

5 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

6 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

7 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

8 frenzied   

a.激怒的；疯狂的

参考例句：

• Will this push him too far and lead to a frenzied attack? 这会不会逼他太甚，导致他进行疯狂的进攻？
• Two teenagers carried out a frenzied attack on a local shopkeeper. 两名十几岁的少年对当地的一个店主进行了疯狂的袭击。

9 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

10 propping   

支撑

参考例句：

• You can usually find Jack propping up the bar at his local. 你常常可以看见杰克频繁出没于他居住的那家酒店。
• The government was accused of propping up declining industries. 政府被指责支持日益衰败的产业。