Should I Buy a Home Now or Wait Until Next Year?

1.Intrest rates going up: According to Freddie Mac’s September Outlook report, total home sales are expected to increase 2 percent from 2017 to 2018. Economists also forecast that the uptick in housing starts, coupled with a moderate increase in mortgage rates, will help slow the run-up in home prices next year. According to Freddie Mac, 4.9 percent increase in home prices in 2018, lower than the 6.3 percent growth seen so far this year. Mortgage rate are also up. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic, says, “Fixed-rate mortgage rates are likely to gradually edge higher over the next six to 12 months. Rates are likely to rise to 4.25% to 4.50% by the end of 2017.”

 Also expects 30-year rates to be near 4.5% by the end of the year — and above 5% by the end of 2018.

2. Housing price is going up:Housing prices in Texas have been steadily rising a moderate pace for many years; single family home sales totaled 8,414 which is greatest August 2017 one-month volume of all time. The median price rose 2.6 percent to an all-time record high of $239,023. The average price increased 1.5 percent to $304,155 also an historic high.

 3. There are Texas specific programs that can lower your interest rate or provide additional tax credit incentives.                   Such as Home sweet Texas Loan Programs for Texas home buyers with low and moderate incomes.

4. Texas has one of the most affordable housing markets compared to household income according to Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. According to U.S Census recently ranks 53 cities with population of more than 1 million on housing affordability.  Markets are ranked by their ratios of median home value to median household income. Based on that, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land is number seven: median home value; $151,300 and median household income: $55,459

5. Texas economy is strong and diverse and the population is expected to continue growing steadily. The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan area is expected to have 11.1 million people by 2040, a 66.7 percent increase from the 6.6 million it boasts now according to the American Business Journals’ population database.

As a Texas Realtor, I can show you how our current housing market conditions factor in to your goal of buying a home. You can trust me to put your interests first while I will be happy to assist you during this exciting process.