38 Percent of Home Buyers Halt Search Due to Rising Rates

• July 8, 2013
• 1 Comment

by UrbanTurf Staff

Two weeks ago, long-term interest rates spiked to 4.46 percent to reach their highest level since July 2011.

While there have been media reports that state rising rates will not deter people from looking for a new home, we have heard differently. So, UrbanTurf polled prospective homebuyers to see if the jump in rates had resulted in a delay in their housing search.

The results were revealing. Of the several hundred buyers who answered the poll, 38 percent said that they would be putting their search on hold because of rising rates, while 57 percent said that they would keep looking. (5 percent were unsure how the rate spike would influence their decision.)

While rates dropped back down last week to 4.29 percent, all signs point to them remaining above 4 percent for the foreseeable future, so it is interesting to see how many buyers have put their search for a new home on hold. We suppose that’s what almost two years of sub-4 percent rates will do to a buyer’s psyche.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/38_percent_of_home_buyers_halt_search_due_to_rising_rates/7284

1 Comment

1. aj said at 4:37 pm on Tuesday July 9, 2013:
   It definitely pushed pause on my home search. We have a condo but my partner and I were planning to refinance the condo, buy a house and rent out the condo. Now we're thinking we'll just stay put.