The Difference Between a 3% and 7% Mortgage Rate: $1,000 Per Month
As the Federal Reserve continues to fight inflation, mortgage rates increased rapidly in 2022, starting the year at 3% and rising above 7% before dropping back to roughly 6.5% at the end of the year. How do rapidly rising mortgage rates affect housing affordability?
The difference between a slightly more than 3% mortgage rate and a 7% mortgage rate adds roughly an additional $1,000 mortgage payment to a typical, new median-priced single-family home and prices 18 million U.S. households out of the market for the home.
This means that a mortgage payment on a $450,700 home would have increased from $1,925 in January 2022 to $2,923 in late October when mortgage rates topped 7%.
And while mortgage rates fell back modestly to a level of 6.42% at the end of the year, the monthly mortgage payment on the same home increased from $1,925 in January when rates were just above 3%, to $2,740 in December when rates doubled, adding more than $800 to the cost of the home loan.
Higher mortgage rates have clearly worsened housing affordability as home prices remained high in 2022. As the charts below show, each 100-basis-point rise in mortgage rates requires roughly an additional $10,000 in household income to qualify for a similarly sized mortgage loan, and prices approximately five million additional households out of the market for a home at the same or similar price level.

NAHB economist Na Zhao provides more analysis in this Eye on Housing blog post.
Latest from NAHBNow
Sep 16, 2025
Kansas City Builder Testifies Against Energy Code MandatesThe Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City (KCHBA) called on Congress today to oppose energy code mandates that raise the cost of housing and do very little to increase energy efficiency for home owners.
Sep 16, 2025
Builder Confidence Steady but Future Sales Expectations Hit Six-Month HighBuilder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 32 in September, unchanged from the August reading, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today. While builder sentiment has hovered at a relatively low reading between 32 and 34 since May, builders expressed optimism that a more favorable interest rate climate could bring hesitant buyers off the sidelines in the final quarter of 2025.
Latest Economic News
Sep 16, 2025
Builder Confidence Steady but Future Sales Expectations Hit Six-Month HighBuilder sentiment levels remained unchanged in September but lower mortgage rates and expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon cut the federal funds rate led to higher future sale expectations in the coming months.
Sep 15, 2025
Shelter Inflation Continued to CoolInflation accelerated to a seven month high in August as tariff-related costs continued to pass through to consumers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) latest report. Core goods prices, which exclude volatile food and energy, rose by 1.5% in August, the fastest annual pace since May 2023.
Sep 15, 2025
Builders Stay Cautious as Single-Family Permits Extend DowntrendSingle-family housing permits slipped for the seventh month in a row, highlighting affordability headwinds and weak demand. While multifamily permits ticked up, the sector’s volatility leaves the outlook uncertain. The split underscores a housing market still under strain, with single-family softness weighing on broader growth prospects.