KTVZ-TV (Bend, Ore.)
If you’re looking to buy a home you’ve likely noticed it’s a tough market. Interest rates are high and so are home prices, and that’s leading to a lag in home sales. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®: “It’s been a very unique situation.”
Lawrence Yun with the National Association of REALTORS® says home sales are at a 30-year low, and there are a few different reasons why. Yun said, “There is not enough inventory so buyers are left with so few choices.”
With fewer homes on the market, it means more competition, so buyers are forced to pay more. An April, the median home sale price was $407,600. That’s 5.7% higher than a year ago, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. And prices have gone up in all four regions of the U.S. Yun said, “We are hitting an all-time high in terms of home prices.”
Interest rates are also rising. Yun says buyers can always refinance though when rates do go down. He explains, “There is some cost involved but it is not an astronomical cost to refinance downward.” There is some good news. Because the spring market was so low, Yun predicts more homes will come on the market in the fall and winter as homeowners look to finally sell.
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