“Well, if I intended to purchase a home, I’d do it before interest rates climb any further. And, if I wanted to sell my home, I’d get it on the market before too many buyers are no longer able to qualify for a loan with higher mortgage interest rates.””
Stan,
Are you kidding? Very rarely is the market the best for both the buyer and seller. It’s good for one or the other or bad for both.
If sellers are about to lose a bunch of buyers due to non-qualifying, then they will drop their prices, allowing buyers to qualify for that house again. Sure, at a higher interest rate, but the monthly will probably end up the same with the lower loan amount.
Why did the run-up happen in the first place? Sellers knew buyers could qualify for more with lower rates and they raised their prices as the market was flooded with buyers buying into the social proof that “there is never a better time to buy”. Bull….1996 was the best time to buy. It progressively got worse and reached its worst in 2005.
