Is now a good time to buy?

A record number of Americans think it’s a bad time to buy a house and with housing costs near an all-time high, can we really blame them? Mortgage rates are the highest they’ve been in decades and the sales price of the typical American home has increased by 40% in the last four years. So why buy?

Opportunities for buyers in today’s market include lower demand, the power of appreciation, and a pivot to new home construction.

Lower Demand

The factors that have created fear and resistance in some is great news for others, the housing market is less crowded. A couple years ago, historically low rates drove a huge spike in demand with bidding wars pushing up home prices and making it difficult to get under contract on a home. Today, buyers are in a far stronger position to negotiate a good deal with less competition due to the smaller pool of buyers in the marketplace. However, lower demand won’t last forever. Many expect interest rates to start declining at some point in 2024 and that will unleash buyers sitting on the sidelines back into the marketplace. Move quickly to take advantage of your power as a buyer in today’s market.

The Power of Appreciation.

Home prices aren’t going down in Southern Colorado. Even with the highest rates in decades we didn’t see a housing crash, in fact we saw slight appreciation in 2023. Values are strong with a lack of available inventory creating a safe floor on home prices. Buy a home today and invest in an asset that is going up in value. Or sit on the sidelines but beware of the cost of waiting. Take an average priced home in Colorado Springs, say $450,000, and assume conservative low year over year appreciation of just 5%. If you choose to NOT to buy a home today and rent for another two years, well, just that two years could cost you over $50,000 in lost appreciation and higher home equity as you pay down your loan. You need a place to live, right? Stop paying the landlord’s mortgage and start investing in yourself instead.

Pivot. New Home Builders Opportunity.

New home builders continue to dig foundations, frame homes, and deliver brand-new homes to the marketplace. And builders are motivated sellers, who don’t want completed inventory on their books. New home builders are in a unique position to offer incentives that simply don’t exist for resale homes. Thousands and thousands of dollars in incentives to help buyers buy now and not wait. Builders can help lower out of pocket costs for you as a buyer by paying for your closing costs and escrows. Builders have multiple programs to lock in a far lower interest rate than what is available in the marketplace. Builders in the Colorado Springs marketplace today can offer interest rates in the 4’s which lower your monthly payment and allow you to find the right home at the right price that meets your needs and your budget. Perhaps its time to pivot as a buyer and go check out a new home builder and what they can offer you as a buyer.

Real-estate tycoon and Shark Tank investor Barbara Corcoran said in a recent interview, “The days of 2%-3% interest are never going to come back. Forget about that. But they will come down. The minute they drop and come to anything with a five in front of it, the whole world’s going to jump back in the market. Houses will be hard to find, and prices will go up. So don’t get out of the market. THIS is the very best time.”