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30 Percent of Home Buyers Halt Search Due to Rising Rates

  • May 30th 2018

by UrbanTurf Staff

30 Percent of Home Buyers Halt Search Due to Rising Rates: Figure 1
The path of interest rates in recent years.

Rising interest rates are having an effect on the housing search of DC-area homebuyers. 

Last week, UrbanTurf polled prospective homebuyers to see if the jump in rates this year (most recently to seven-year highs) had resulted in a delay in their search for a new home.

30 Percent of Home Buyers Halt Search Due to Rising Rates: Figure 2
Click to enlarge.

The results were revealing. Of the buyers who answered the poll, 30 percent said that they would be putting their search on hold because of rising rates, while 47 percent said that they would keep looking. (23 percent were unsure how the rate spike would influence their decision.)

Long-term rates have risen for 15 of the last 21 weeks, so the decision to put a search on hold may not have been one that was spurred on just by rates hitting their highest level since 2011 in the last couple weeks. Still, there is clearly a hesitation for some buyers who have grown quite accustomed to interest rates at or below 4 percent. 

See other articles related to: interest rates, mortgage rates

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/30-percent-of-home-buyers-halt-search-due-to-rising-rates/14039.

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