The Federal Reserve eventually quelled the inflationary run that took off in the 1970s, but only after the central bank's aggressive rate hikes saw mortgage rates top 18% in 1981 and the housing market slip into a sharp recession. At the time, homebuilders mailed lumber to the Fed as a means of protest while some renters assumed they'd never be able to afford a home.
Fast-forward to today, and the Fed's ongoing inflation-fight has once again spurred a mortgage rate shock. This spike in mortgage rates, which are up from 3.22% to 6.48% over the past 12 months, has pushed the U.S. housing market into a full-blown housing correction.
