#mortgage-buydowns

#mortgage-buydowns

A recent American Enterprise Institute analysis ignited a spark. A Wall Street Journal piece that followed on the heels of the AEI report fanned the flames into a scandalous narrative: Permanent mortgage buydowns particularly those enabled by bulk forward commitments from large, mostly public, homebuilders act as a quiet force that inflates home prices and puts buyers at risk. But the assumption underlying that framing makes it worth a time-out to ask a few questions.