‘Almost impossible’: Janet Yellen despairs at housing market’s one-two punch for first-time buyers

It’s official: Home prices are up nearly 5% year over year in every major U.S. city, according to a Redfin report released Thursday.

Transcript

00:00 Well, home ownership for people who don't already own homes,

00:06 first-time buyers, is almost prohibitively expensive.

00:13 First of all, mortgage rates have been so low for so long

00:19 that it's created a kind of lock-in across much of the country

00:24 where people don't want to sell their homes to buy new ones

00:29 because they'll lose the benefit of the low mortgage rates they've locked in.

00:35 And then with house prices having gone up

00:39 and now with much higher interest in mortgage rates,

00:43 it's almost impossible for first-time buyers.