Investigation: The consistently high mortgage interest rates would lead to a continued downturn in the U.S. real estate market.

Reuters' survey of real estate experts shows that the high mortgage rates will keep the US housing market transactions sluggish in the next two years, with only a slight increase in housing prices, which will hinder the Trump administration's goal of revitalizing the housing market. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate, which serves as the benchmark for most US housing loans, has been hovering around 6.6% in recent months, far above the average level of 4.3% in the past decade, and is not expected to decrease significantly in the short term. Another survey conducted by Reuters of economists shows that the financial markets no longer expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this year, and have already priced in a rate hike in December. This suggests that the prospects for the housing market recovery may be even more bleak than the survey results indicate. The median forecast from the survey conducted from June 1st to 11th shows that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate will be 6.4% in the next quarter and 6.3% in the fourth quarter. It is expected that by 2028, this rate will average over 6.0%, which is about 25 basis points higher than the survey results from three months ago.