One segment of the real estate market that has been missing for the last 6 years is the move-up buyer. These are the home buyers that have outgrown their current home and are now in need of something more. Or maybe they don’t need more house but they want to live on a golf course or have panoramic views of the Cascades or they just don’t want to be able to reach out their window and touch their neighbor’s house.
The reasons these folks haven’t been in the market is primarily because of all of the equity they lost in the real estate crash. Despite super low prices in 2011 and interest rates below 3 percent in 2012 many would-be buyers needed more (or even some) equity in their current home before they could consider buying something new.
The run up in home prices over the last twelve months appears to have provided the boost in equity people were looking for. A recent article on HousingWire.com quotes Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac a real estate market research company, as saying 18.5 million homeowners, 40% of all homeowners, have at least 20% equity or more.
He goes on to say, “We show 8.3 million homeowners who are on the equity fence, and should have at least 20% equity in the next 15 months if home prices continue to appreciate at the same rate we’ve seen over the past 15 months.” Blomquist noted that if 5% of these 8.3 million homeowners list their homes for sale, that’s an additional 415,000 homes that will be available for sale in the coming months.
How much equity do you have in your home? The best way to find out is to call your Bend real estate agent. Be careful about holding out for the price of your home to go up further because while the value of your home is rising so is the value of the home you want to buy. The other thing that is likely to rise while you wait for more equity is interest rates. The combination of rising interest rates and home prices can make a real difference in the kind of home you qualify to move up to.