Joe Biden has been criticised by the Republicans on his latest speech about mortgage rates.
The US President made the latest statement during a speech in North Carolina, as part of his re-election campaign.
After Trump's emphatic win in the Iowa caucus cemented his front-runner status for the Republicans, Biden headed to North Carolina, the state Democrats are most optimistic about flipping in November.
Trump narrowly won the state in 2020 by a margin of just 1.3 per cent, which translated to 74,483 votes.
Joe Biden made the latest statement during a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina
Reuters
"We expect North Carolina to be extremely competitive," said Biden's deputy principal campaign manager, Quentin Fulks.
"President Biden and Vice President Harris have a strong record on issues that resonate with North Carolinians."
The US President focused on the issue of the economy, similarly to what he had done on his previous two visits in 2023.
When referring to mortgage rates, the 81-year-old claimed they are "falling" and will continue to do so.
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Joe Biden focused a large part of his speech on the economy
Reuters
He said: "Costs are still too high, but inflation continues to fall and mortgage rates are falling and they're gonna fall more!"
The RNC Research, which is managed by the Republican National Committee took to social media to rebuff the President's comments.
They wrote: "BIDEN: 'Mortgage rates are falling and they're gonna fall more!'
"When Biden took office, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 2.7 per cent. Today, it remains around 7 per cent.
However, Biden didn't mention that mortgage rates had fallen in comparison to when he took office, but that they had just fallen.
According to finance company Freddie Mac, today marked the lowest they had been since May last year, marking an eight-month low.
The average fixed-rate 30-year mortgage fell to 6.60 per cent, compared to from 6.66 per cent the week before.
“This is an encouraging development for the housing market and in particular first-time homebuyers who are sensitive to changes in housing affordability," Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said.
"However, as purchase demand continues to thaw, it will put more pressure on already depleted inventory for sale.”
