Interest rates were steadily marching up and seem to have peaked on 10/23/23 at 7.79%. After the Feds decision to hold rates steady, mortgage rates have dropped to 7.44%.
The consumer price index (CPI) maintained its 3.2% level which has allowed many analysts to forecast the Fed could keep rates paused until Spring 2024 and potentially start cutting rates. Cutting rates would be a huge boom to the currently soft real estate market.
Despite the highest mortgage rates since 2000 home prices continue to climb and are up 6.5% year over year. This is largely due to declining inventory with a 12.9% decrease over the past year. Even medians on market are down to an average of 21 days on market.
If you are waiting to buy, time is not your friend. Prices are still increasing despite the high mortgage rates. Once mortgage rates start to consistently drop, many buyers will enter the market and it could be off to the races again.
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