Today's animal spirits is brought to you by our friends at Why Charts.

Today we're going to use some data from Why Charts on the real estate market to show you why

buying a home could be a better deal now than most people think.

Go to YCharts.com, tell them Animal Spirits send you and get 20% off your initial subscription.

Welcome to Animal Spirits, a show about markets, life, and investing.

Join Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson as they talk about what they're reading, writing,

and watching.

Michael Batnick and Ben Carlson work for Ritholz wealth management.

All opinions expressed by Michael and Ben or any podcast guests are solely their own opinions

and do not reflect the opinion of Ritholz wealth management.

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for investment decisions.

Clients of Rit Holt's Wealth Management may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast.

Welcome to Animal Spirits with Michael and Ben.

From the Wall Street Journal, the average rate

on the 30-year mortgage stood a 3.72%

at the beginning of the year, 3.8% a year ago.

It's now at the lowest level ever. It's under 3.8% a year ago. It's now at the lowest level ever. It's under 3%. The 15 years under 2.5%. These are national averages. Unbelievable. I mean, unbelievable. The difference that this makes in your monthly payment is enormous

So I looked back why charts has the data for 30-year mortgages going back to looks like the 1970s and they also have I looked at US existing single family home

median sales price so that's taking out new homes obviously this is homes that are already

on the market do we know why it's 30 years you ever read any history on that I was reading some history this weekend for a piece I wrote and the down payment back in the day like 20s before that was like 50 percent.

Hold on 20s and before. Are you talking like the 1900s? What are we talking about? Yeah, before like the 1920s it kind of shifted

whereas people were more willing to take on debt. Apparently it used to be a social stigma at that

...