Rising interest rates have decreased both inventory and buyer demand.
Today I’m updating you on the March 2022 real estate market. I’ve simply never seen anything like it.
We had 10,898 available homes compared to 12,024 last year. That’s a 9.4% decrease in active inventory. 10,860 homes came on the market last month versus 11,112 in March 2021, which is a 2.3% decrease in new inventory.
10,143 homes sold last month compared to 10,204 last year, so we saw a 2.6% decrease in sales. The months’ supply of inventory dropped from 1.16 last year to 1.07 this year.
“If rates go up further, you will truly be stuck.”
In total, we have fewer homes on the market, fewer new listings, and fewer sales. A lot of this has to do with rising interest rates. They’ve gone up almost 2% since January, which caused a few problems.
Economists call this process demand destruction. As rates go up, it gets more expensive to borrow money, which means some buyers are priced out of the market. At the same time, sellers have to decide if they want to move and give up their lower interest rates.
The real question you should ask yourself is if you’re comfortable staying where you’re at for the foreseeable future. If rates go up further, you will truly be stuck. If you’re not happy with the home you have now, it’s time to make a move.
Give us a call at (602) 738-9943 or send an email to jason@thepenroseteam.com. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
