Will a 1% Mortgage Finally Move Houses?

Okay, the headline is intentionally misleading, but one never knows these days. The Federal Reserve is worried that the economic recovery is slowing, noting yesterday that it will buy Treasuries en masse, which means rates are going to stay low forever (or close to it.) The 10-year fell below 2.7% this morning and it appears Lew Ranieri's recent prediction that we'll see a 2.5% yield soon may come true. But yet, consumers aren't buying homes. So, I ask this: just how low do mortgage rates have to go before homes really start moving? (The operative word is 'really.') But low rates alone won't move homes. Job growth will. And as we all know: U.S. firms — despite sitting on $2 trillion in cash — are not hiring. As long as employers can squeeze more hours per week out of current staff, why bother? Yet, it stands to reason that soon housing will catch a break — either companies will indeed start hiring or heck, rates on 30-year FRMs will finally fall to 3%, igniting a home buying boom. Or maybe not.