Last year was a dampener for aspiring home-owners. While mortgage rates and residential prices steadily went up, average monthly mortgage payments hit “never seen before” levels. Home shoppers, particularly first-time buyers, found it significantly difficult to realize their dream of affording a home. The restrictive monetary policy employed by the Fed to tackle the four-decade-high inflation in the United States was almost singularly responsible for home prices shooting through the roof. However, with the ...