‘Reality check’ for northwest Guilford’s housing market
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JUNE 16 - 29, 2022
The Northwest Observer
According to the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association, the average sale price for a house in Oak Ridge and Summerfield jumped 24.4%, from $478,272 to $594,764, this year through April, compared to the same period in 2021. In Stokesdale, the average sale price rose 26.6%, from $334,791 to $423,865. Local Realtors say they don’t see home prices dropping drastically in the coming months, but they do see the market “calming down” and prices leveling out.
Even though housing prices are still rising, real estate agents see signs the market is slowing due to higher mortgage rates by CHRIS BURRITT NW GUILFORD – Newly listed houses in good condition are still attracting multiple offers – just not as many as last year when mortgage rates hovered around 3%. Realtors we spoke with recently say they are recommending that sellers dress up their houses with fresh landscaping and paint to appeal to buyers who, due to escalating interest rates, aren’t able to borrow as much money. In contrast to frenzied buying over the past two years, buyers are paying closer attention to prices and looking for homes ready to occupy with few, if any, renovation costs. “Sellers are now getting a reality check about the value of their homes,” said Oak Ridge resident Angie Bird, a Realtor with Keller Williams in Kernersville who added four listings in northwest Guilford County and Greensboro in the past two months. “With interest rates going •up, Totally local since 1996 we’re seeing people’s buying power
go down a little bit.” For U.S. homebuyers putting down 20% of the purchase price, rising mortgage rates so far this year have increased monthly principal and interest payments by more than $500 for a medianpriced house, according to Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage loan company. It forecast the median home price will rise from $355,000 to $384,000 this year. Mortgage rates are forecast to keep climbing through 2023, according to Fannie Mae. In the short term, it estimated that, on average, fixed rates on 30-year mortgages will rise to 5.1% in the second quarter that ends June 30, up from 3% for the fourth quarter of 2021. In a forecast last month, Fannie Mae predicted that rates will average 4.8% for all of this year and then increase to 5% in 2023. In turn, the mortgage loan company revised downward projections for home sales and mortgage originations. “Mortgage rates have continued to rise and are now at their highest level since 2009,” Fannie Mae reports. “We forecast a continued slowdown in home sales to be followed by softening construction activity and, lastly, by a large deceleration in house price growth.” Broader concerns about the
