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In the US, fixed interest mortgage rates are sort of the standard. So, the decision to buy now based on interest rates is a keen driver of many buyers. Source;

In the US, fixed interest mortgage rates are sort of the standard. So, the decision to buy now based on interest rates is a keen driver of many buyers. Source; I've refinanced three times based on rates going down. I dropped 10 years and 200/mo. off of my mortgage for the low, low price of $750 worth of appraisals.

ineedasername 5y ago
I dropped 10 years and 200/mo. off of my mortgage Roughly the same here, and I had a very low mortgage from a small line of credit. Between sticker price on a house and interest rates, prices tend to equalize-- people can always only afford $X/month, regardless of the proportion going to interest. This means that, all else being equal. the most fortunate time to buy is when slightly higher % rates have kept sticker prices down a bit. That way when rates inevitably go down at some point in the future you can refi at a lower rate, getting the benefit of having purchased a lower price and then dropping down to a lower interest rate as well. Certainly not something you can choose to do, given that trends often measure by a decade or two, so this is just an observation, not advice to wait for higher interest rates to suppress sticker prices.
- Loughla 5y ago
  That is 100% my experience. We bought when interest was still relatively high compared to today (5-7% I think). Prices for homes were still being suppressed by the crash of 2008. Then the whole world went to pot and interest bottomed out for a decade. It just kept going down. I realize how fortunate we are. Timing is literally everything.
barbazoo 5y ago
I didn't know there were 30 year fixed interest rate mortgages. Interesting, here in Canada it's usually 5 years as far as I can see.
- Loughla 5y ago
  Just off the shelf, in the US, you tend to have access to 10, 15, 20, and 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Variable rate mortgages used to be pretty common, but they're nearly non-existent anymore. When we shopped to refinance, there were no adjustable rate mortgages to be found, only fixed rate. Anyway, what we saw was that, depending on who you finance through, you can get a term anywhere from 5-50 years.

ineedasername 5y ago

I dropped 10 years and 200/mo. off of my mortgage Roughly the same here, and I had a very low mortgage from a small line of credit. Between sticker price on a house and interest rates, prices tend to equalize-- people can always only afford $X/month, regardless of the proportion going to interest. This means that, all else being equal. the most fortunate time to buy is when slightly higher % rates have kept sticker prices down a bit. That way when rates inevitably go down at some point in the future you can refi at a lower rate, getting the benefit of having purchased a lower price and then dropping down to a lower interest rate as well. Certainly not something you can choose to do, given that trends often measure by a decade or two, so this is just an observation, not advice to wait for higher interest rates to suppress sticker prices.

Loughla 5y ago
That is 100% my experience. We bought when interest was still relatively high compared to today (5-7% I think). Prices for homes were still being suppressed by the crash of 2008. Then the whole world went to pot and interest bottomed out for a decade. It just kept going down. I realize how fortunate we are. Timing is literally everything.

barbazoo 5y ago

I didn't know there were 30 year fixed interest rate mortgages. Interesting, here in Canada it's usually 5 years as far as I can see.

Loughla 5y ago
Just off the shelf, in the US, you tend to have access to 10, 15, 20, and 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Variable rate mortgages used to be pretty common, but they're nearly non-existent anymore. When we shopped to refinance, there were no adjustable rate mortgages to be found, only fixed rate. Anyway, what we saw was that, depending on who you finance through, you can get a term anywhere from 5-50 years.