If you’re thinking about buying or selling a home, you might have heard that it’s tough right now because mortgage rates are higher than they’ve been over the past few years, and home prices are rising. That much is true. Take a look at the graph below.
It breaks down how the current affordability situation stacks up to recent years.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) explains how to read the values on the graph:
“To interpret the indices, a value of 100 means that a family with the median income has exactly enough income to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home.”
The black dotted line represents the 100 value on the index.
Essentially, the higher the bar, the more affordable the homes are. As you can see, the orange bar for today shows that higher mortgage rates and home prices have created a clear challenge. But while affordability is tighter right now, that doesn’t mean the housing market is at a standstill.
According to NAR, just under 4 million homes will sell this year based on the current pace of sales.
With some simple math, let’s break down what that means for you:
- 3.96 million homes divided by 365 days in a year = 10,849 houses sell each day
- 10,849 divided by 24 hours in a day = 452 houses sell per hour
- 452 divided by 60 minutes in an hour = about 8 houses sell each minute
So, on average, over 10,000 homes sell each day in this country. Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, this shows there are still ways to make your move possible, even when affordability is tight.
An Agent Can Help You Make Your Move a Reality
You may wonder how other homebuyers and sellers are making this happen now. One of the biggest game-changers in today’s market is working with a trusted local real estate agent. Great agents are helping other people just like you navigate today’s market and the current affordability situation, and their insight is invaluable right now.
True professionals can offer advice tailored to your specific wants, needs, budget, and more. They can also draw on their experience of what’s working for other buyers and sellers right now.
This could mean broadening your search, if needed, to include other housing types, such as condos, townhouses, or neighborhoods, a bit further out to help offset some of today’s affordability challenges.
Bottom Line
You might think there aren’t many people buying or selling homes right now since affordability is tighter than it’s been in quite some time, but that’s not the case. Although buying a home has become more expensive over the past few years, people are still moving.
If you’re hoping to buy or sell a home in the Chicagoland area and surrounding suburbs today, know that other people are still making their goals a reality – mainly because of the help and advice of skilled local real estate agents.
Want to talk to a trusted professional about your move? Contact real estate agents at KM Realty Group LLC!
