CHANDLER, AZ — Inflation continues to put a crunch on people's wallets and way of life.
That along with interest rate hikes from the fed is causing uncertainty in the housing market.
Ian Baker lives in Chandler and has been looking to buy a new home up north near Deer Valley for about a year now.
While multiple fed interest rate hikes did cool the market somewhat and bring prices down, he says it's also made borrowing more difficult, so the buyer isn't getting as much bang for their housing buck.
"You're getting less house per your dollar. And the biggest thing is, a lot of these houses have shot up so much in value so much, that by the time someone like me gets there looking to buy, the price per square foot for a lot of houses is getting close towards 300 dollars per square foot, and that's pretty high. So you're looking at a lot of properties that have reached their value already, and to try an swoop in with high interest rates, the payment is just way too high," Baker said.
Baker could buy now anyway and hope to refinance if interest rates go down early next year as experts predict, but hesitates.
"With that comes quite a bit of risk though because interest rates may get worse. So I think what I'm going to do as a buyer, I'm probably going to wait it out," he said.
Baker's realtor, Bonnie Kingcannon, is a realtor for Delex Realty. She says there is one advantage for the buyer right now, and that's more inventory.
"A report came out, our inventory is up 94% from this time last year in October," Kingcannon said.
More houses, she says, means more choices for buyers, so some sellers may have to make concessions, like helping the buyer pay the interest rate, or paying closing costs.
"Sellers definitely don't have the upper hand that they did. If they're looking to sell just now or in the past 90 days, they definitely missed the mark on where we were at. I think that kind of ended in June and July," Kingcannon said.
"Sellers are not getting the offers they were before. My listings are sitting and it's quiet and we're priced right. It's just these buyers, there's not a lot of them now and there is tons of opportunity with the inventory," she added.
But even with concessions, it's still not enough of a discount for Ian, as high-interest rates and inflation are keeping him priced out.
"I'm spending more money on gas, more money on food... That's going to leave less money on the table for making a house payment, mortgage payment every month. So that goes into consideration too when buying a house," Baker said.
Kingcannon says she's urging her clients to stay positive even during uncertain times.
"I think that as long as the government can kind of settle things down and we don't continue on this fast pace interest rate, we're going to be ok. If it continues to hike, we're going to be in big trouble," she said.
