COLUMBUS – Although mortgage rates dipped last week, high rates will continue to have an impact on the residential real estate market but buying a home is still a sound investment, according to the head of Ohio Realtors.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate fell this week to its lowest level in five weeks.
That’s welcome news for house hunters looking for an edge as they navigate a market constrained by a near-historic low number of homes for sale.
Even though buying a home can be tricky, the value of homes has shown steady growth over the last several years.
“In the Columbus market, it’s been $102,000 in wealth gain in the last decade so, I mean, that’s roughly $10,000 a year,” Ralph Mantica, president of the state Realtors group, said in an interview for Perspective.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan fell to 6.35% from 6.39% last week. The average rate a year ago was 5.30%.
Columbus is still one of the nation’s most active real estate markets, in fourth place on Realtor.com’s Top 20 Hottest Housing Markets list, based on market demand and the pace of the market, as measured by the number of days a listing remains active.
Sales in the Columbus metro area were down 5.2% in March compared to a year earlier, according to Columbus Realtors, while the average sale price one year ago sat at $318,826, up 3.1% over last year.
There number of new listings in March was 20% lower than March 2022.