September 04, 2019
Mortgage Availability Higher than Buyers Seem to Realize
The first financial quarter of 2019 saw the real estate market slip into buyers’ market territory. The question has been: why, given the ongoing issue of low inventory? And the answer seems to be that, following the rather stratospheric rise of prices throughout 2017 and into the end of 2018, buyers had entered a phase of homebuyers’ fatigue (or perhaps it might be better phrased “home-searchers’ fatigue,” since the real issue was that prices were high, the competition was high, and the likelihood of getting that house you wanted to be was low—resulting in multiple offers that were likely to get outbid by purchasers holding cash, influencing searchers to reduce their efforts). And fatigue, it seems, does not wane in direct tandem with market forces. It has a sort of psychological drag-time.
In its Homeownership Opportunities and Market Experience survey issued in March, the National Association of Realtors relayed the feeling people had toward home selling and purchasing at the time. The survey stated that 65 percent of people polled believed it was a good time to buy a home. This was an increase over the previous quarter—but only slightly. This was somewhat surprising, given how much the mortgage rates had fallen and how much more slowly prices were increasing. Meanwhile, 35 percent of respondents believed it was decidedly not a good time to make a home purchase. This group over-represented for Millennials (fully half of the Millennials polled responded in this fashion) and people who were currently renting or living with someone else.
This is interesting when compared to the statistic that 69 percent of people polled believed it was a good time to sell a home—the lowest number since the last quarter of 2017. 31 percent of respondents, accordingly, believed it was a bad time to sell. Among those who believed it was a good time to sell, the highest percentage came from sellers of rural homes—at 70 percent. 67 percent of suburban poll respondents believed it of their homes, and only 59 percent of urban homeowners considered it a good time to sell their properties.
But there appeared to be some misconception among buyers that mortgage rates were still higher—despite their having dropped as a response to the Fed choosing not to raise interest rates.
Maybe they just weren’t looking anymore.
Since then, it has remained a good time to buy. And when one buys, it is important that they receive a clear title to their new property. Topouzis & Associates P.C. is the home buyer’s bulwark against problems of the past. We do title searches and ensure you are gaining clear title to your property—and we back our services with offerings of title insurance (click here), in case someone along the line of ownership did something that will weaken your title at some point in the future.
