The National Association of Realtors is making a major revision to its forecast for the spring home-buying and selling season, dropping its projected uptick in existing-home sales from 14% to just 4%.
Bankrate Senior Economic Analyst Mark Hamrick said, "this spring is not shaping up to be the spring selling season that many had hoped, and part of the recipe for this is elevated prices nationally, as well as the recent surge in mortgage interest rates."
Before the Iran War started, average mortgage rates dipped just below 6%. Afterward, they jumped to around 6.5%, which is where Hamrick anticipates rates will stay for the rest of the year.
"What has really changed the economic outlook in the last 30 days or so has been the Iran war," Hamrick said.
In Tulsa, the situation looks slightly different.
"Right now, this is a buyer's market in Tulsa, but prices are moving lower year-over-year as opposed to the national picture," Hamrick said.
Pete Waldroop put his Tulsa home up for sale and is watching the market shifts.
"We don't have to do it fast. We're not in a huge hurry, but certainly it's not a good thing to have the market go down like that, and we'll see what happens," Waldroop said.
Hamrick advises sellers to be realistic about pricing to avoid having to lower it later.
"Because you don't want to then have to reduce the sale price, which has a kind of damaged goods look to it, to those who would follow those trends," Hamrick said.
Hamrick also recommends decluttering and sprucing up properties.
Waldroop did both before listing his house. As part of his staging, Waldroop cleaned out the master closet to show buyers exactly how much room they will have for their own belongings once they move in.
"We went, you know, painted every, everything ... lots of paint going on, just lots of repair, lots of clean, deep cleaning, deep, deep, deep, deep cleaning in the house," Waldroop said.
For those looking to buy, Hamrick advises shopping around for mortgages to secure the best possible rate.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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