HOUSING MARKET

Local experts give a breakdown of the current housing market, from both the banking and realty perspective.

Buying a house is one of the biggest decisions a person can make, both in regards to deciding where to settle down and start a family, and especially in regards to a person’s financial future. Even simply renting and entering into a lease agreement is still a significant decision. Prospective homeowners need to know what the market is like and what to expect, especially in today’s economy. Fortunately, several local experts broke down the basics for the Post-Searchlight.

When asked about the current state of the housing market, Pamela Simpson, co-owner of ERA Simpson Realty, joked,

“Well, the phone’s still ringing, so that’s a good thing!” On a more serious note, she went into the market specifics, saying, “With all the rate hikes, it has slowed some, but we’re not seeing the crash that was predicted.” According to Simpson, last year, economic indicators like inflation and higher interest rates led to predictions of another housing crash, which has yet to manifest. “I lived through the 2008 crash, which was supposed to last two years, and it lasted about 10 years, really. But it seems to be different this time.”

As for why no crash has manifested“Probably the reason for that is low inventories,” she explained. “We’ve got more demand than we have inventory.” This has resulted in little to no drop in house prices, an unnatural occurrence. “But, that also has to do with new construction,” she explained, stating that higher building costs are keeping prices high as well. “We’ve seen it through the years, new construction goes up, re-sales go up.”

Kyle Staples, Vice President and Commercial Loan Officer at First Port City Bank, gave his view on home demand, based on customers taking out home mortgages. “We’re still seeing a good influx of mortgages come through,” he said. “People are seeing a lot of stagnant things throughout the country, but I think our good, small local area, we’re still seeing pretty good traffic for mortgages.” He described demand for homes not necessarily as high or low, but steady. As for high house prices, he described it as “the new normal.”

With no end in sight to these high prices, this makes things difficult for first-time home buyers, who are a core part of the housing market demand. “We do need some $200-$225,000 housing in this area, because that’s kind of the meat and potatoes around here,” Simpson explained. “We sell $500-$600,000, but probably our median price is probably more like $250,000.”

In a separate interview pertaining to loans and savings, local bankers discussed the recent raising of interest rates. Simpson explained how the relatively low interest rates in prior years, versus the much higher current rates have contributed to lower inventory: