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Household Mobility and Mortgage Rate Lock

Author

Listed:
  • Jack Liebersohn
  • Jesse Rothstein

Abstract

Rising interest rates can create “mortgage rate lock” for homeowners with fixed rate mortgages, who can hold onto their low rates as long as they stay in their homes but would have to take on new mortgages with higher rates if they moved. We show mobility rates fell in 2022 and 2023 for homeowners with mortgages, as market rates rose. We observe both absolute declines and declines relative to homeowners without mortgages, who are unaffected by mortgage rate lock. Mobility declines are not explained by changes in home values. Overall, our estimates imply that rising interest rates reduced mobility in 2022 and 2023 for households with mortgages by 16% and caused $20 billion of deadweight loss.

Suggested Citation

  • Jack Liebersohn & Jesse Rothstein, 2024. "Household Mobility and Mortgage Rate Lock," NBER Working Papers 32781, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32781
    Note: CF LS
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    Cited by:

    1. Olivier De Jonghe & Konstantīns Beņkovskis & Karolis Bielskis & Diana Bonfim & Margherita Bottero & Tamás Briglevics & Martin Cesnak & Mantas Dirma & Marina Emiris & Pálma Filep-Mosberger & Valentin J, 2026. "Household Borrowing and Monetary Policy Transmission: Post-Pandemic Insights from Nine European Credit Registers," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 22(2), pages 91-194, April.
    2. Kristopher Gerardi & Franklin Qian & David Hao Zhang, 2024. "Mortgage Lock-in, Lifecycle Migration, and the Welfare Effects of Housing Market Liquidity," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 15, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    3. Christa Gibbs & Benedict Guttman-Kenney & Donghoon Lee & Scott Nelson & Wilbert van der Klaauw & Jialan Wang, 2025. "Consumer Credit Reporting Data," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 598-636, June.
    4. Alina K Bartscher & Moritz Kuhn & Moritz Schularick & Ulrike I Steins, 2025. "The Distribution of Household Debt in the United States, 1950-2022," Post-Print hal-05448445, HAL.
    5. Bartscher, Alina K. & Kuhn, Moritz & Schularick, Moritz & Steins, Ulrike I., 2025. "The distribution of household debt in the United States, 1950-2022," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 324154, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
    6. Julia Fonseca & Lu Liu, 2024. "Mortgage Lock‐In, Mobility, and Labor Reallocation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 79(6), pages 3729-3772, December.
    7. Alina Bartscher & Moritz Kuhn & Moritz Schularick & Ulrike Steins, 2025. "The Distribution of Household Debt in the United States, 1950-2022," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 57, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

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