In many ways, Donald Trump was elected to a second presidency as part of a response to the cost of living, and unaffordable housing was at the heart of Americans’ frustration. High house prices and the highest mortgage rates since the financial crisis meant that as much as a third of the country was effectively locked out of the dream of home ownership. That, in turn, helped explain why Americans rated the economy so low in consumer confidence surveys and political polls, even as official inflation statistics cooled and the stock market soared, along with gross domestic product.

The first signals from the mortgage and bond markets are not encouraging in this regard. Trump will have to moderate his agenda dramatically if he wants to meet voters’ expectations, and even then his promise to push mortgage rates to 3% or lower seems well out of reach absent a sharp economic downturn.