Many Want A Home But Debt, Costs Keep Them Renting

By GREGORY BRESIGER High inflation and the economic impacts of COVID are destroying the dreams of Americans who want to have a home, mortgage and credit card experts warn. That’s because the pandemic has driven many people deeper into credit card debt since 2020 and that, along with rising interest rates and inadequate housing stock, are reducing the number of new mortgages. “Overall, I would say they are declining,” Linda McCoy, Board President of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, told The Mortgage Note. U.S. mortgage applications declined 8.1% in the week ended March 18th, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. That followed a 1.2% decline in the previous week. This happened, MBA officials noted, as mortgage rates were the…