BALTIMORE — With interest rates on the decline, some people are backing out of home sales to try and time the market.
For most people, buying a home is the most expensive purchase they’ll ever make.
It’s understandable why people want to get the best price and interest rate.
“The risk of waiting is that home prices go up, in Baltimore home prices are up 11% year-over-year and that’s with rates as high as they are. So if prices were to fall I would anticipate that would go up even more," said Daryl Fairweather, the Chief Economist at Redfin.
According to data from Redfin, 60,000 people across the united states dropped out of home sales in July.
Brian McGeehan, a local Realtor and president of the greater Baltimore board of Realtors says locally not everyone is backing out to time the market.
“I would suspect that most of the houses that have gone under contract and come back to market those buyers did so out of a contingency – maybe something came up in an inspection," said McGeehan.
McGeehan says that while the local market still favors the seller – a shift is happening.
“We really saw rapid sales, multiple offers across the board and really low inventory. This year is the first year we’re starting to see inventory increase in year over year data," said McGeehan.
According to Freddie Mac, interest rates are at the lowest point they’ve been in a year.
Down almost a full percent since this time last year.
McGeehan doesn’t think it makes a massive difference.
“The recent drop in interest rates and the potential for future interest rate drops they’ll help in affordability they’re not significant enough to make someone change their mind About a house they love," said McGeehan.
Trying to balance that lower interest rate with the rising prices is difficult.
“I think for some people they may get that timing just right out of luck and end up with a lower mortgage payment but for other people they may end up having to pay a higher price or having to get a rate that’s a bit higher than if they were waiting," said Fairweather.
The bottom line, experts say if you can afford To buy a home and you fall in love with one, don’t focus on timing to housing market.