Locally in the Coeur d'Alene Area we are seeing home prices stabilizing. Inventory is rising and sales have declined April 2022 to April 2023 28.9%. Inventory of homes for sale is going up, but local inventory is still low. Many Seller's do not want to sell as they do not want to give up their low interest rates they got when they bought their home or refinanced at before the rates went up. Many Buyers do not want to buy because the interest rates are too high.
We are nearing the end of the Federal Reserve Board's interest rate hikes. The Feds are currently expected to raise interest rates another 1/4% during their next meeting on May 2-3, 2023. This could be their last rate increase as the inflation rate is projected to start coming down closer to their goal of 2 to 2.5% later this summer or early fall. I look for mortgage rates to probably start coming down sometime early next year. As this happens home sales will pick up and home prices will also start to increase. This will be a process and I don't look for rates to drop rapidly or sales to pick up briskly, but to be more of a methodical gradual process.
So, we look forward to this happening. There is still a lot of inflationary pressures still out there, (shortage of labor and high labor costs being one of them). So when is a good time to buy. When you are ready and you find your dream home. You can always refinance when the rates go down and I feel home prices are currently close to bottoming out. I and many others feel a home is a families best investment and a great place for the family.