We’re creeping up on the second quarter of 2017, which means that interest rates are rising and many home sellers are about to enter the market.
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Welcome to my latest market report! Today I’m coming to you live from Hawaii, so let’s jump right into the news.
Right now, research shows that people are very confident in the economy, the job market, and what’s taking place in real estate. In fact, a recent Gallup poll states that Americans view the economy more positively since the election in November than they did in the previous nine years.
Now I have a question for you: When do you think most listings come on the market? The answer is the second quarter of each year, which is coming up.
This means if you’re thinking about selling your home but waiting until April, May, or June to put it on market—don’t! That’s when everyone else puts their homes on the market. We know that buyers are out there right now and we can get your house sold quickly. Let’s put it on the market now before the rest of the competition—including some new construction in many markets—hits the market too.
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I’m not the only one saying this. Jonathan Smoke, the chief economist at realtor.com, stated in his latest article that “In most markets most years, the optimal time to list is in the spring so that the maximum number of potential buyers view the home. This year, the conventional wisdom of buying and selling may need to change. Inventory levels at the beginning of 2017 are at multi-year lows. Sellers now face very little competition.”
If you’re thinking about selling your home, don’t wait until spring.
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If you’re a move-up buyer or just want to buy another home, pay very close attention to interest rates. The 30-year fixed rate skyrocketed at the end of 2016 and then came down a little bit, but now it looks like it’s bouncing around. I don’t think this will have a major impact on how many people will buy houses.
Also, in a recent survey of loan officers that asked them how they thought rising rates will impact demand for purchase mortgages, 16.7% said it would have no impact because there is not enough supply to fulfill current demand. Another 16.7% said rising rates will weaken demand. I agree with that assertion. The vast majority of people moving on—they’re just going to have to pay more.
If you’re a first-time buyer or a seller who’s thinking about buying, you have to take into consideration that if you wait until later in the year, you will have to spend more money. The Mortgage Bankers Association, Fannie Mae, and the NAR are all projecting that interest rates will continue to rise throughout the year.
As you can see in the slide in the video above, if we average out the mortgage rate projections of the next three quarters, interest rates are going to be almost a half a point higher this time next year than they are right now. Why would anybody wait until the end of the year when they know they’ll pay more on an interest rate?
Some people assume that because interest rates are going up, prices will decrease. That’s not what the experts think. In the past month, home prices have risen 1.1%, and it’s likely going to rise even further. As the CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said, “Very low mortgage rates sparked demand, and with inventories low, the result has been a pickup in home-price growth.”
If you want to sell your home fast in 26 days, we have two Home Selling Shark Seminars coming up this month. The first is a breakfast seminar on March 25th from 8:30 a.m and 9:30 a.m. The second is an evening seminar on March 28th. They will both be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Ft Washington, PA. To sign up, just go to www.HomeSharkSeminar.com.
We are also having Homebuyer Workshop on March 23rd at 6 p.m. at the Abington Township Library. For more details on that, just visit www.CardanoBuyerWorkshop.com.
If you have any questions about our market or are thinking about buying or selling a home, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. In the meantime, be on the lookout for my next video where I’ll discuss different parts of the staging process in the home sale.
