Millions of homeowners are facing a stark reality driven by high mortgage rates.
Some 46 percent of homeowners feel trapped in their homes because they don’t want to give up their low mortgage rates, according to a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults aged 25 or older published Tuesday by moving firm Storable.
High mortgage rates have helped diminish renters’ hopes of owning a home one day, the study noted. Some 25 percent of renters say they’ll “probably” never own a home, and 21 percent have given up on homeownership.
Home prices may also play a role in renter pessimism; the median home sales price at the end of 2025 was more than $80,000 higher than at the start of the pandemic, according to the Federal Reserve’s most recent data.
Additionally, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-mortgage home loan is currently more than double its all-time low of 2.65 percent in January 2021, according to mortgage funder Freddie Mac.
Here’s what a homeowner’s average monthly payment, before taxes and insurance, would be now and five years ago when accounting for the median home price, average mortgage rate and average down payment (10 per cent, per the National Association of Realtors):
- January 2021: $1,287
- January 2026: $2,189.
In short, homeowners who sell and buy a new home could see their mortgage go up nearly $1,000, revealing why so many feel trapped.
It’s not just a matter of feeling stuck in their current home, either. One in three Americans are staying in relationships longer than they want because they can’t afford to move out, the survey revealed. And more than half of respondents said they’ve turned down a job or would turn down a job because of mortgage rates.
For some renters, high mortgage rates and property prices are making the transition to owning a home feel impossible. The average monthly rent in the U.S. is $1,741, according to data site Rent Cafe.
Buying a home would increase a renter’s monthly housing payment by around $400, but that figure assumes a 10-percent down payment of more than $40,000. If a renter secured an FHA mortgage with a 3.5-percent down payment to ease their up-front costs, their payment would rise by nearly $150, driving up already high monthly housing costs.
Former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen summed up the bind in testimony to federal committee in 2024, when mortgage rates were 7.17 percent.
“Mortgage rates have been so low for so long, it’s created a kind of lock-in across much of the country where people don’t want to sell their homes to buy new ones because they’ll lose the benefit of the low mortgage rates they’ve locked in,” Yellen said.
“Then, with house prices having gone up and now with much higher interest and mortgage rates, [owning a home is] almost impossible for first-time buyers.”
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