> Especially if you’re positioned to buy when you can lock in low mortgage rates. Above 6% you might be better off putting your down payment into the stock market and renting.

"Locking in" a rate for multiple decades is mostly (only?) an American thing:

* https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15214842.2020.1...

* https://www.investopedia.com/why-your-30-year-mortgage-exist...

* https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/07/why-the-30-year-fixed-rate-m...

* https://www.deeded.ca/blog/why-canada-doesnt-have-30-year-fi...

While a ≥20 year amortization period is common, the mortgage term is generally shorter (2-5, 10 years) is most other places.

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fuomag9 2 hours ago | parent [-]

In italy not only you can lock it, you are allowed to change bank for lower rates (surroga) without any penalty

	▲	tomjakubowski 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Also true in the US, the term of art here is "refinancing". Just about every homeowner I knew during Covid refinanced and now has a rock-bottom interest rate on their mortgage. The downside of doing that is you end up "locked in" to the property too. They now have a strong disincentive to sell, because they'll lose that sweet sweet interest rate and relatively low payment. I'm unsure what the broader effect is on the market.