You'd hope that we'd be seeing lower interest rates in the near future. Fed funds rate, as well as mortgage loan rates.

Everyone wants lower mortgage loan rates because then housing gets cheaper, right?

Apparently, it's not to be.

Why not?

* World economy is strong;
* The housing slowdown is just a blip in the US economy;
* Most households still have built-up equity in their homes;
* Most households don't have to sell, so are unaffected by slowdown;
* US unemployment rate is low;
* US economy is stable, if stagnant.

Among other things.

This is a great little article which covers a lot of ground.

The summary?

As glorious as all this growth is, at this pace it is accident-prone. I have no clue if this phase will end by central-bank catch-up, tripping stock markets as they go by, and shoving property markets from behind; or by central-bank failure, markets running to cliffs. Whichever: rates are going up.

Lou Barnes writes a great article, each week.

(I like him except I always get him confused with Lou Dobbs, who I hate.)

Complete story: Why interest rates are going up - By Lou Barnes, Inman News, by way of The Boston Globe