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Interest rates going up while home sales may be going down

5 years 9 months 3 weeks ago Thursday, May 24 2018 May 24, 2018 May 24, 2018 6:06 PM May 24, 2018 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - All over Baton Rouge, homes are under construction, for sale, and being sold.

The national average for a 30-year mortgage now sits at 4.8 percent, its highest level in seven years.

For local realtors, that means a change for home buyers.

“When the rates go up, this $200,000 home that we're in, that for someone buying it at a quarter-percent higher rate, you're talking 40-50 dollars more a month,” said Ronald Julien, realtor for the greater Baton Rouge area.

According to Julien, interest rates going up does not mean the amount of money that buyers make goes up with it.

"Nobody gets a raise just when they want to, so those raises will come and they will qualify again later," Julien said. “In the meantime, persons who just qualified in the last few days and the rates change, they have to begin all over again."

In places like the greater Baton Rouge area, it is not just mortgage rates that are a big factor for home purchases. Buyers are also considering flood zones and the rates of flood insurance.

“The first thing a buyer asks when they get on the phone with you: did this house flood? Will this neighborhood flood? Has it flooded?” Julien said. “Some of those we can answer, some we can not. If it did flood, then they are running from those spots."

With some places still recovering from the 2016 flood, investors are still getting the most bang for their bucks.

“If you've got money to work with, you can buy some properties and sell them at a real good price.”

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