The Westchester real estate market is already in a recession. Now I know some of you have an unbreakable confidence in the economy and this news sounds like a death wish, but I’m not the last boy scout. Hear the kid out. It’s not Armageddon. However, interest rates are having a clear effect on sales in Westchester and corrective measures may be in order.
Westchester sales are down 18% over the same period last year. However, home prices are slightly up 2.6% to $800,000. Evidencing the market is die hard. Buyer aspirations also die hard too, so we expect a market cooling of volume over the next couple months. New listings for sale are down 14.4%. The first two quarters of 2022 saw a mercury rising in prices and volume.
Freddie Mac now reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Oct. 13: the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgages more than doubles to 6.92%, 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.09%, and 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.81%.
These numbers have buyers seeing red, because homes they could afford in March became unaffordable in October. It doesn’t take a sixth sense to seeing that affordability, not home prices, will determine the last man standing. Should buyers live free or die hard? That’s a cop out. Before the sub prime recession, even twelve monkeys could get a loan.
Buyers need to save, budget, meet with their lenders and surrogates, and make a plan. The fifth element in that is to lock in rates with lenders that allow it before contracts are signed. Sellers who adjust their asking prices won’t be taken hostage by the market. If they try to get high Spring prices, they will be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s a cosmic sin to overprice in Fall 2022.
If you need to buy or sell in the next twelve months, you can still get the whole nine yards. Meet your lender now. You may need to split your expectations. You are still in striking distance of your dreams. Stop trying to figure out how many Bruce Willis movies I named and get to work on your Paradise City. Plan right and a glass of Champaign is waiting for you, while others cry tears of the sun. If you need help…AskHollingsworth.
Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons, Photo by Gage Skidmore