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PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – Real estate companies in Florida had trouble keeping up with the demand of people wanting to buy homes.
Now local real estate experts say that’s starting to change.
“The days the houses are staying on the market are several days more,” realtor at Think Real Estate Jamie Sheehan said. “You know, six months ago, you’d have four, five, six offers in the first day where now we have a few more days with one offer and it’s just giving buyers a little bit more power.”
Local real estate experts are also saying the area is trending into a buyer’s market.
“We will slowly see it shift to where the buyers have the power because there’s going to be so many listings and not enough buyers,” said senior loan consultant at Movement Mortgage Lindsey Maxwell.
Higher interest rates have some buyers putting the brakes on going over the asking price.
“Obviously with interest rates increasing, the curve of demand is going down and so we’re going to see people back off of homebuying a little bit just because of interest rates increasing,” Maxwell said.
Rising interest rates impact the home’s price.
“Mortgage rates are long-term interest rates where the Fed’s interest rates are based off of short-term buying and selling between banks,” Maxwell said.
However, experts say real estate in the area will only stall minimally.
“We have so much military here,” Sheehan said. “We have so many jobs opening up with Tyndall growing. I don’t think people will just stop purchasing here.”
There are some key takeaways if you’re interested in buying a home in today’s market.
“Buyers, what they need to look for is not only the interest rates but the fees that the mortgage lender is charging because right now mortgage lenders are hedging those interest rates because they’re anticipating the market increase,” Maxwell said.
Maxwell also said lower rates can sometimes lead to higher fees.
Sheehan said it’s OK to wait until interest rates settle down if you’re hesitant, too.
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