https://www.siliconvalley.com/2023/05/01/jill-on-money-housing-affordability-still-tough/ > If you want to see the effects of the Federal Reserve’s interest policy over the past three years, look no further than the nation’s residential real estate market. > In its effort to keep the economy afloat amid the pandemic, the central bank dropped interest rates to zero and purchased bonds. Accordingly, mortgage rates plummeted to all-time lows. As of the beginning of 2021, the average contract rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage tumbled to 2.65 percent.