It should no longer come as a surprise that the pandemic continues to create never-before-seen circumstances in all corners of society. Here in the housing and mortgage markets, one of the first major manifestations of the crisis was a quick move to incredibly low rates.
With record after record being set in close succession, the mortgage environment has been ridiculously good for most homeowners. For others, it’s just been ridiculous.
Record low rates make a lot of sense given the economic outlook. In general, economic weakness coincides with lower rates, and there’s been plenty of that to go around.
On the other hand, much of the economic weakness is assumed to be temporary. How much is anyone’s guess, but until we see where those chips fall, both sides of the market (stocks and bonds) are finding more buyers than sellers. That’s why stocks are still generally elevated and bond yields (which move lower as demand improves) are remaining low.