What's happening that could affect the real estate market you ask? It seems like everything from the stock market, political investigations, the presidential election, homeless crisis, housing crisis and the latest fear, of course, the coronavirus with 48 confirmed cases in the Bay Area.
Nothing can shut down consumer activity more than fear so if the fear level keeps growing then interest rates should keep shrinking. Right now interest rates are the lowest in eight years. If you've been thinking about refinancing, now is the time to think a little more. I've seen 30 years fixed jumbo rates quoted at 3.4%! That should keep the buyers in play and there's a lot of them as we continue to have a short supply of properties and a long list of buyers.
This is why home prices keep going up in the Bay Area especially in Alameda, supply and demand. Many homeowners are getting ready to sell their homes in March and April which will satisfy the buyer market's thirst for inventory for a time, but if last summer is any indication, buyers will quickly get fatigued from the high prices and bidding wars only to leave the market in the summertime as more homes come on late to market. Summer used to be a great time to sell, not anymore.
