Prospective homebuyers are confronting what the National Association of Realtors (NAR) describes as “the most difficult affordability conditions in nearly 40 years.”
Analysts who had generally welcomed the Fed’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged in September are now debating whether policy makers will hit the pause button again when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed’s policy-setting arm, meets October 31-November 1. Most are predicting that another rate hike is likely, perhaps not at the next meeting, but before the end of the year.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has made it abundantly clear that the Fed may – or may not ─ boost interest rates again in September.
Are we there yet? Children ask that question endlessly on a long car trip. Federal Reserve officials are asking it about their drive to curb inflation.
Real estate industry professionals describe a balanced market as the ideal, with buyers and sellers evenly matched, neither having a strong advantage over the other and both willing to compromise to produce a sale. The current market reflects a balance of sorts, but not a healthy one.