lock in

Realtor.com’s Berner said expanding loan assumptions to mortgages backed by Fannie and Freddie could help ease the so-called lock-in effect, a term used to describe the reluctance of homeowners with ultralow mortgage rates to sell their homes.

Hint: It’s not just the ‘lock-in effect’

High interest rates impede home buying and home construction, a persistent lock-in effect has resulted in homeowners clinging to their 3% mortgage rates instead of selling, and sellers would rather delist their home than drop their asking price.

That lock-in effect is keeping home prices stable — for now.

But Kelman also framed the lock-in effect as a detriment to societal progress.