The mortgage industry over the last several months has been weighed down somewhat by the fact that consumers just don't seem to be all that interested in getting into the market as rates and prices go up. However, experts have often pointed out that affordability today remains well above historical levels, and now one of the richest men in the world has added his voice to that chorus.

Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and billionaire many times over, recently noted that the low consumer interest in homebuying has created a drag on the construction industry, and it's more than a little confusing, the report said. He said that given the current situation in the market, he'd have expected people to be very eager to lock in prices and mortgage rates as they're currently constituted.

"You would think that people would be lining up now to get mortgages to buy a home," Buffett said at a conference hosted by Fortune magazine in Laguna Niguel, California, according to the news agency. "It's a good way to go short the dollar, short interest rates. It is a no-brainer. But so far home construction pickup has been slower than I had anticipated. Household formation falls off dramatically in a recession, at least initially. But that doesn't last long. Hormones kick in and in-laws get tiresome, too."

Some backing data
These remarks seem to be based on two things: The slow pace of housing starts and the current low mortgage rates, the report said. New construction jobs on homes hit the highest level in nearly seven years earlier in 2014 but took a step back in August, and still remain below pre-recession levels. Meanwhile, the average mortgage rate continues to sit in the low-4 percent range, about two full percentage points down from the average of 6.14 percent seen over the last 20 years. Buffett further noted that he expects rates to climb in the coming months, which jibes with other predictions seen in the industry over the last few weeks or so.

For these reasons, it might be wise for mortgage lenders to do more to connect with consumers and highlight for them the high affordability in the market today, as well as the fact that it's likely to decline in the very near future. Some experts project rates could hit the 5 percent range as soon as the middle of next year.