Texas is a good place to be for lots of reasons, and home sales is one — people are still buying and selling here, while markets in the northeastern United States and in California are slowing considerably.
That’s according to one analyst, who identifies the relatively high price of mortgage loans and the attached interest rates are a big problem for home markets right now, and a central reason why sales are down in so many markets that even fast-growing Florida is seeing some sales difficulties.
But analyst Melody Wright says another big problem is the asking price of many of those selling today — Baby Boomers are refusing to lower their asking prices, they’re just de-listing their homes instead.
“And it’s not their fault they won’t come down on price,” she says, “they’ve been listening to mainstream media, which has not been giving them the right information to help them make the right decision.”
One big problem is it’s hard to have a good home sales market when younger people can’t afford to buy homes, which are reaching all-time high prices at $441,000, but sellers won’t reduce their prices to meet the market demand.
“I don’t want to participate in generational anger, but they are the ones who have the assets and they are the ones being stubborn about selling,” Wright says.
And while homes sales have been dropping along with home prices in Austin, San Antonio and elsewhere, Texas has retained a rather healthy home sales market, but it will likely take a reduction in the mortgage loan interest rate from the current approximately 6.5% down to about 4-precent before a new can emerge, she adds.
Why that much?
“The amount of people that can participate between six and a half percent down to about four percent is not that material,” she says.