When Maggie moved to Las Vegas from Michigan with her family and bought a house in December of 2020, interest rates were incredibly low.
“I think we got an interest rate at (2 or 2.2) percent,” she said about the $396,000 house she and her husband bought in the northwest Vegas valley. “But now my husband has retired and we want to move back to Michigan and we’re going to take a huge financial hit. We’re kind of screwed.”
Maggie, a homeowner who wanted to be identified only by her first name to avoid revealing her family’s financial information, said that luckily their real estate agent was able to sell their house for more than $500,000.
However, this solved only half the problem, she said. Now they have to try buying another home at much higher interest rates.
“We’re probably looking at 7 percent right now; I mean are you nuts?” Maggie said. Unfortunately, she said, her family has no choice but to buy high in their return to Michigan and hope interest rates fall so they can refinance their mortgage down the road.
Roller-coaster ride
The U.S. housing market has been on a roller-coaster ride since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw a buyer’s boom fueled by cheap money that subsequently sent prices to record highs in 2021.
Then, in the second half of last year, Southern Nevada’s housing market came crashing down to earth as rising interest rates — introduced to quell rising inflation — led to a sharp jump in mortgage rates. This in turn forced buyers to pull back and sellers to slash prices.
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Source: www.stltoday.com
ENB
Sandstone Group
