Mortgage rates around 5%? What does that mean to buyers and sellers in Charlottesville?

It is end of March, 2022. And interest rates are hovering around 5%, and this is the first time in memory that they have sustained around that number. And I think I met with five or six buyers over the weekend and to a person they were talking about reducing their budgets by $20,000 and $50,000 from when they started the search process many weeks and months ago, respectively. So I think this means that buyers are going to be pushed to either one, make a buying decision sooner rather than later, to lock in their rates or two: I’ve talked to my buyers and a couple other agents you’re going to  start to see more, are being pushed out of the buying market, which is going to be short and long term is, is a troubling thing.

For Sellers

I think this means that there’s a real sense of urgency to get on the market as soon as possible to take advantage of the remaining buyers who are out there.

There’s some fear in the buyer market right now. And sellers, you know, might be looking at, you know, not getting the price that you thought you might get, which is long term, and historically is fine. But I think that short term expectations matching up with reality can be a little bit painful psychologically and financially.

I think that we may be in a transition period, transitory phase, 

what have you, where we’re going from 10 to 15 offers on houses to two to four, where we go from 48 hours on the market to three to six weeks. It’s clearly, it’s too soon to tell what’s going to happen. But I think that if things stay at at, or around 5% for six to eight weeks, no, I think that we’re going to see the market take a, take a breath and we’ll see what happens when it shakes out long term. We’ll be fine. And I’ve got another video in that works about affordability and, and what that means for today’s buyers. And it’s not the people who are in the sub-$150K. It’s the ones who are in the $200K to $600K price point. Believe it or not.

Questions? Jim Duncan, 434-242-7140. Jim AT Nest Realty DOT com. Thank you.