Even with the most prolonged increase in mortgage rates we’ve seen in nearly 50 years, owning is still better than renting

1972: That was when we saw the last mortgage rate increase comparable to what we’ve seen so far in 2018. According to the Washington Post, we’ve now witnessed the highest increase in mortgage rates in the last 46 years. Even though economists have predicted that increasing interest rates decreases the housing prices, real data from 2017-2018 show that this is not the case in larger cities; in fact, the larger cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, NYC, and 16 other large metros) have shown either the same or greater housing prices year-over-year.

The recent changes in the tax laws will defer home buyers from taking deductions for a mortgage interest deduction, but since the standard deduction has nearly doubled, experts are convinced that it’s not very likely it’ll influence a person’s decision whether to buy vs rent.

How could this have an impact on your relocation program? One impact could be that your employees may not be purchasing a home right after moving, and it may be more difficult to sell their home in their departure location. Companies may need to offer longer assistance periods with benefits such as duplicate housing, temporary housing, home purchase and home sale programs. By increasing support with these benefits, many companies will see a positive and lasting effect on the overall employee experience.