Hello? Hello? Someone wake the market up! September pending sales hit one of their lowest levels since Lil Jon’s “Turn Down for What” was climbing the charts in 2014. The only lower blip since then was the pandemic panic, and that shot right back up (chart below, via Redfin).
For sellers, that’s not great news, with one exception: the luxury market, which still hasn’t found the brake pedal. For buyers, it means opportunity. Back in 2021 and 2022, people were bidding over the phone on houses they had never seen, and sellers have held control ever since. But the tide has shifted. Buyers finally have the leverage they could only dream about, and now they’re calling the shots.
Rates also hit a one-month low this week. They peaked around 7.6% in early October and have slid back to about 7.3%. Unless gas prices drop quickly, we’ll likely see another Fed rate increase in December, and that will start pricing into mortgage rates by mid-November. At 7.3%, it’s completely reasonable to ask a seller to buy your rate down into the 6s.
Thinking about buying? Let’s talk about how to put that leverage to work for you.
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Matt Marsden | The Marsden Group | Agile Group Realty | (940) 206-1931