Is 2019 The Year to Buy Your New Home? Watch These 2 Facts

We are officially into the new year and many people are embarking on their new years goals whether it be joining the gym or kicking bad habits. For another large segment of the population, buying a new Fort Lauderdale home may be on their list of accomplishments for 2019. If this is your goal, here are two factors that play a large part in the real estate market that you will want to pay special attention to this year.

Interest Rates

Now might a good time to fall in love with a home as mortgage rates resume their slide.

The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate dipped to 4.57 percent, down from 4.62 percent a week ago, according to Bankrate.com’s latest survey of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders. Meanwhile, the average 15-year fixed mortgage rate inched up two basis points to 3.98 percent and the average adjustable mortgage rate fell five basis points to 4.22 percent.

Although rates are moving lower, mortgage activity is waning after a brisk start to the year. Total mortgage applications fell 2.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s applications survey for the week ending Feb. 1.

Refinance applications pulled back slightly by 0.3 percent from the previous week, but a 5 percent drop in purchase applications led the overall decline in activity, the MBA reported.

Inventory

In a healthy and “normal” real estate market, there should be 6 months worth of inventory for home prices to increase in line with inflation. According to the National Association of Realtors, there is only roughly 3.9 months of inventory supply which is still far below the normal level. What this means is that there will still be pressure on home prices potentially causing them to rise more rapidly.

The trend for inventory over the past handful of years has been on an downward decline, but in the last 6 months there has been a slight shift where more homes are becoming available. This is an interesting trend to keep an eye on as if we continue to see more homes on the market for sale, then we can be moving towards more of an even keeled or normal market as opposed to a seller’s market that we’ve been experiencing for quite some time now.

If you have any questions about the local Fort Lauderdale real estate market, contact me today.