HOUSTON – Sikiru Ogunboyejo has been a real estate agent for eight years.
He says he’s seen major fluctuations in interest rates during his time on the job.
”When COVID started interest rates were, I wouldn’t say at an all-time low, but lower than they usually have been,” Ogunboyejo said.
During the height of the pandemic, Ogunboyejo says interest rates hovered around 2.7%.
”It was shifting. A lot of buyers were able to buy, get that low-interest rate at a good price,” he added.
Now dealing with historic inflation, they’re around 6%, April Khaliq who’s trying to buy a home knows that first hand.
”Last year was a bit difficult because of the market. It really started to be challenging at that point, and we’re just now starting to see some really good prospects,” she said.
Ogunboyejo says high-interest rates could start to work in the buyer’s favor because it’s forcing sellers to lower their prices.
”What buyers are thinking right now is they’re either going to wait til the interest rates come down or they’re going to try to find a deal so if that house that’s 350 gets reduced to let’s say, 300 or 280… that’s when they’ll go ahead and buy it,” he said.
He says first-time homebuyers have a special advantage because of programs that can allow you to dodge a down payment.
”And then they also have grants as well,” he said.
While Ogunboyejo says it’s not possible to tell exactly how high-interest rates will go, he predicts housing prices continuing to drop over the next few months.