Mortgage rates remain high despite interest rate cuts
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The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates twice this year, but the wait continues for many North Texans looking to buy a home or refinance with a better mortgage rate.
Driving the news: Mortgage rates rose after President-elect Trump's victory and are expected to stay higher for longer than anticipated, Redfin economic research lead Chen Zhao tells Axios.
- That's despite the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by a quarter percentage point last week.
The big picture: Home prices in Texas increased 320% from 1984 to 2024, per an analysis of Freddie Mac data.
- The median sale price of a Texas home in September was $343,900, per Redfin.
- Nationally, prices increased nearly fivefold between 1984 and 2024, meaning many people were borrowing more money to afford a home.
Fun fact: Around 44% of North Texas homeowners are living mortgage-free, per Census Bureau data. That figure was 40% in 2013.
- Nationally, close to 40% of homeowners don't have a mortgage.
State of play: Throughout his campaign, Trump talked about slashing mortgage rates and easing building regulations, though neither is a thing he can control from the White House.
- Now, the real estate industry is in "wait-and-see mode," Zhao says.
Zoom in: Dallas was a buyer's market in October, with a greater supply of homes than the demand for them, per a realtor.com analysis.
- The median list price in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro was around $434,500 in October, 3% lower than last October, per realtor.com.
What to do: Keep an eye on interest rate trends, monthly sales volumes and housing inventory when navigating the post-election market, says Danny Perez, the founder of M&D Real Estate in Dallas-Fort Worth.
- People looking to finance a home can get pre-approvals from multiple lenders for added leverage on offers, track daily rates to notice dips, and keep the necessary documentation handy so they can move swiftly, Perez says.