For US renters, the chance of owning a home is going from bad to worse

The American dream of homeownership is looking more like a nightmare.

A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business’ Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link. The American dream of homeownership is looking more like a nightmare. With inflation heating up again, the Federal Reserve is in no position to consider lowering interest rates at its upcoming meetings. That’s helped push the average fixed rate on 30-year mortgages above 7.2% after five straight weeks of increases. Consumers aren’t expecting mortgage rates to come down any time soon. Over the next year, they anticipate that mortgage rates will rise to nearly 9%. Over the next three years, they expect rates that are close to 10%. That’s according to a New York Fed survey gauging consumers’ expectations of the housing market, released Monday. On top of that, households are bracing for a resurgence in home prices over the next year after they had started to ease back last year. But here’s the catch: Renting is also far from a bargain these days. Consumers are gearing up for even bigger increases compared to the expected rise in mortgage rates over the next year, the New York Fed survey found.