- The Federal Reserve is likely to hold interest rates steady on Jan. 29 at the end of its two-day meeting.
- In his first week in office, President Donald Trump said he’ll “demand that interest rates drop immediately.”
- High interest rates have affected all sorts of consumer borrowing costs, from auto loans to credit cards.
If you’ve been thinking about buying a Boston Beacon Hill condo, mortgage rates are probably top of mind for you. They may even be why you’ve put your plans on hold for now. When rates climbed near 8% last year, some buyers found the numbers just didn’t make sense for their budget anymore. That may be the case for you too.
Data from Bright MLS shows the top reason buyers delayed their plans to move is due to high mortgage rates (see graph below):
David Childers, CEO at Keeping Current Matters, speaks to this statistic in the recent How’s The Market podcast:
“Three quarters of buyers said ‘we’re out’ due to mortgage rates. Here’s what I know going forward. That will change in 2024.”
That’s because mortgage rates have come down off their peak last October. And while there’s still day-to-day volatility in rates, the longer-term projections show rates should continue to drop this year, as long as inflation gets under control. Experts even say we could see rates below 6% by the end of 2024. And that threshold would be a gamechanger for a lot of buyers. As a recent article from Realtor.com says:
“Buying a home is still desired and sought after, but many people are looking for mortgage rates to come down in order to achieve it. Four out of 10 Americans looking to buy a home in the next 12 months would consider it possible if rates drop below 6%.”
While mortgage rates are nearly impossible to forecast, the optimism from the experts should give you insight into what’s ahead. If your plans were delayed, there’s light at the end of the tunnel again. That means it may be time to start…