U.S. Mortgages in 1982 vs. 2021 vs. 2023 — the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Jeffrey Goodman
7 min readDec 21, 2023

30Y in 30D • Y18. It has been a wild journey in mortgage rates for the U.S. over the past 41 years from sky-high levels to record lows.

Photo by Precondo CA on Unsplash

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Photo by Waldemar on Unsplash

When it comes to residential housing mortgages in the U.S., what do October 1982, January 2021, and October 2023 have in common?

Not much, as it turns out.

Each of those years was dramatically different from the other years in important ways when it came to the topic of 30-year…

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Jeffrey Goodman

Navigating facts and numbers to help people. Strong opinions on climate change and healthcare. Objective, not neutral. MIT engineer, Wharton MBA.