Real Estate July Pulse: Monitoring Mortgage Rate Activity
In today’s real estate market, we are seeing more and more home buyers come forward in part from the low mortgage rates and increasing job stability. The demand for home ownership continues to increase. An increase in home prices is expected to continue throughout this year while our property inventory continues to be at an extremely low level. Prices of homes in the U.S. rose by more than 12% since May 2012, which is the highest increase that the real estate market has seen in over seven years. For most, this appears that the market is continuing to gain strength. It is prudent to understand what impact home prices and interest rates have in the long run and how they may affect the rapid recovery of our real estate market in our Tampa Bay area. Potential effects of recent mortgage rate changes may include a slight reduction in borrowing power of buyers. However, it is possible that the rising rates could spark a new flurry of real estate activity fo