If you’re a homeowner, you might be torn on whether or not to sell your house right now. Maybe that’s because you don’t want to take on a higher mortgage rate on your next home. If that’s your biggest hurdle, understanding your equity may be exactly what you need to help you feel more comfortable making your move.What Equity Is and How It WorksEquity is the current value of your home minus what you owe on the loan. And recently, that equity has been growing far faster than you may expect.Over the last few years, home prices rose dramatically, and that gave your equity a big boost very quickly....
Some HighlightsLooking at monthly home price data from six expert sources shows the worst home price declines are behind us, and they’re rising again nationally.If you’ve put your plans to move on pause because you were worried about home prices crashing, this rebound is good news.Connect with a local real estate agent so you know what’s happening with prices in your area.
Some homeowners have been waiting for months to put their house on the market because they don’t think people are buying homes right now. If that’s you, know that even though the housing market has slowed compared to the frenzy of a couple of years ago, it isn’t at a standstill. Contrary to what you may believe, buyers are still active and plenty of homes are selling right now.According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), based on the pace of sales right now, just over 4 million homes will sell this year. With some simple math, let’s break down what that really means for you:4.16...
Wondering if it still makes sense to sell your house right now? The short answer is, yes. Especially if you consider how few homes there are for sale today.You may have heard inventory is low right now, but you may not fully realize just how low or why that’s a perk when you go to sell your house. This graph from Calculated Risk can help put that into perspective: As the graph shows, while housing inventory did grow slightly week-over-week (shown in the blue bar), overall supply is still low (shown in the red bars). Compared to the same week last year, supply is down roughly 10% – and it was...
Some HighlightsWant to know what experts say will happen in the rest of 2023? Home prices are already appreciating again in many areas. The average of the expert forecasts shows positive price growth.Where mortgage rates go for the rest of the year will depend on inflation. Based on historical trends, rates are likely to ease as inflation continues to cool.Even though low inventory continues to be a challenge, experts project 5 million homes will still sell this year. That pace should pick up if rates come down.
Many homeowners thinking about selling have two key things holding them back. That’s feeling locked in by today’s higher mortgage rates and worrying they won’t be able to find something to buy while supply is so low. Let’s dive into each challenge and give you some helpful advice on how to overcome these obstacles.Challenge #1: The Reluctance to Take on a Higher Mortgage RateAccording to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the average interest rate for current homeowners with mortgages is less than 4% (see graph below):But today, the typical 30-year fixed mortgage rate offered to buyers...
While this isn’t the frenzied market we saw during the ‘unicorn’ years, homes that are priced right are still selling quickly and seeing multiple offers right now. That’s because the number of homes for sale is still so low. Data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows 76% of homes sold within a month and the average saw 3.5 offers in June.To set yourself up to see advantages like these, you need to rely on an agent. Only an agent has the expertise needed to find the right asking price for your house. Here’s what’s at stake if that price isn’t accurate for today’s market value.The...
Some HighlightsIf you’re considering buying or selling a home, you’ll want to know what’s happening in the housing market.Housing inventory is still very low, prices are climbing back up, and homes are selling fast when priced right.Connect with a real estate agent if you want more information about your local area and what the trends mean for your plans to buy or sell.
Even though the housing market is no longer experiencing the frenzy that was so characteristic of the last couple of years, it doesn’t mean today’s market is at a standstill. In actuality, buyer traffic is still strong today.The ShowingTime Showing Index is a measure of how much buyers are touring homes. The graph below uses that index to illustrate buyer activity trends over time to help put today into the proper perspective.It shows there’s seasonality in real estate. If you look at the last normal years in the market (shown in gray), there was a consistent pattern as buyer activity peaked...
Before you decide to sell your house, it’s important to know what you can expect in the current housing market. One positive trend right now is homebuyers are adapting to today’s mortgage rates and getting used to them as the new normal.To better understand what’s been happening with mortgage rates lately, the graph below shows the trend for the 30-year fixed mortgage rate from Freddie Mac since last October. As you can see, rates have been between 6% and 7% pretty consistently for the past nine months:According to Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors (NAR),...