Despite the likelihood of rates remaining high for the foreseeable future, many buyers are determined to push ahead with their homebuying plans – with or without a rate cut by the Fed, according to a prominent Virginia-based mortgage professional.
Kristi Hardy (pictured top), executive vice president, area manager and senior loan officer at Atlantic Coast Mortgage in Virginia, told Mortgage Professional America that many clients were less attuned to the news coming from the Fed than they might have been at the onset of its rate-hiking path.
“I don’t think [buyers] are as focused on it,” she said. “I really think people have come to accept the reality of where interest rates are.
“As a matter of fact, I feel like a lot of clients are just not even worried about it anymore – they’re just so desperate to get their offer accepted and to get a house that they’re really not as concerned about the Fed and the interest rates.”
“With home prices continuing to reach new highs, owners are also seeing their equity approach the historic peaks of 2023, close to a total of $305,000 per owner,” CoreLogic chief economist Selma Hepp said in the report.https://t.co/3U1HqH0Nge
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) June 11, 2024
Loan officers, clients remain hopeful for eventual rate cuts in 2024
Of course, that doesn’t mean the Fed’s likely path ahead isn’t a discussion point between loan officers and their clients, especially with the central bank expected to start bringing rates lower at some point before the end of the year.