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Happy Autumn!

Here in Los Angeles, we don’t have as much fall foliage, but you can take quick road trips to explore the beautiful colors of changing leaves.  We love to check them out at our Mammoth Lakes home but for other ideas check out www.CaliforniaFallColor.com, a crowdsourced website that tracks the latest fall color reports.

Falling leaves and falling interest rates.  All signs point to lower interest rates this season, with the latest rate cut and the current trajectory of interest rates, which were heading downward before the rate cut was announced. With lower rates, expect increased market activity on both sides.

Keeping Current Matters shared some fascinating numbers. When homeowners were asked, “Which mortgage rate, if any, would you need to be comfortable selling a home this year?” A full 35% responded “rate less than 6%” and 30% responded “rate less than 5%.” That means 65% of the market is primed and ready to list, should the rates drop into the 6% and even 5% range. Now, I haven’t seen any predictions that we’ll see 5% rates anytime soon but 6% rates are feasible for the near future … so expect to see more inventory come on the market if rates drop below 6%. This will impact buying too, because many of these sellers then go on to purchase a home after they’ve sold.

We can expect a busy season ahead as rates move lower, but we won’t see any significant drop and rates in the 5% or 4% range let’s say, next week. We also won’t see a straight line from where we are today to where we’ll be in three, five, or six months.   Expect a little volatility but the trajectory is most important because the market moves in anticipation of what’s to come, so rates should continue on this downward path through the end of the year.

Great news for buyers and sellers alike. As the leaves fall, interest rates are most likely going to fall right along with them!