Is the US housing recovery about to be derailed?

Mortgage interest rates in the US have risen sharply since Ben Bernanke hinted the economy could soon be strong enough for the Fed to start tapering quantitative easing (QE). Given the housing market has been one of the consistently good areas of the economy of late, this has raised fears its recovery could be stopped. But just how realistic is it? Demand/supply balance Despite a rise in 30-year fixed mortgage rates from 3.6% in early May to 4.7% in early July, buying interest has actually strengthened. This is an understandable immediate response given expectations for both rates a...