Who's to say rates even need to come down? Or at least need to come down significantly.
Rates were on their way up and in the mid-2%s before COVID hit. Back before the financial crisis, rates were gradually ratcheted up to 5.25% before something broke -- but I think those risks in real estate don't really exist anymore, certainly not to the same extent in terms of shoddy lending practices etc.
What was unusual was the periods of exceptionally low or basically 0% rates and free money, those days might very well be over for the foreseeable future. Rates aren't high by historical standards, almost 20% Fed Funds rates in the '80s were high -- 5% Fed Funds rate is about average.
