Real Estate in NWA has obviously become very popular. If you don’t stay up to date with the latest real estate investing blogs like me, just to fill you in. People outside of NWA now know about NWA. We are popular. Great places to work, great place to live, parks, restaurants, bars, top golf, concerts, shall I go on? It’s hard to believe this area I grew up in has grown so much, but I’m looking to take advantage of it! As a realtor the market has become a little more normal. Negotiating is back, longer time on market, but still prices are quite a bit higher than 2 years ago and interest rates have yet to come down. That is the #1 factor to the cool down of the market. People can’t afford the payments. My theory, as well as most of my real estate colleagues, is that we will continue where we are through the summer because of the surge of buyers in the summer time. Just a typical yearly trend, people buy in the summer. But this winter we should see some price reductions finally. With that being said, I love to give points to both sides. There won’t suddenly be people who no longer need homes? So how will there be a drastic enough change in demand to lower prices? The only thing that would really lower demand would be a serious recession that causes buyers to crawl in a hole and bunker down to save and get through it, or a sudden increase in available homes. So if the FED can pull off this “soft landing” and avoid a recession. We won’t see the lack of buyers to cause this market slowdown. Maybe 5%-10% decreases. But nothing like 2008.
The point I don’t think people are thinking of. When the FED starts to bring interest rates back down, I believe there is going to be a title wave of buyers not wanting to miss out on their opportunity to afford the payments again. Which would ramp up demand and keep us right where we are today. At least for another few months. My advice will always be the same. If you can afford it and plan to own it for 5-10 years. Buy the house. If not, keep saving! Inflation will never go away and appreciation and inflation go hand in hand. 10 years from now, you’ll be glad you bought it.
-Isaac Johnson, Real Estate Agent
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