TUCSON, Ariz. — The housing market saw an interesting shift this past year amid the pandemic.
“Our market has been absolutely crazy,” said Greg McCown, a realtor in the Tucson area.
Prices are high and interest rates are at record lows.
“For buyers, interest rates can't be beat. I mean interest rates are incredible. I mean under three-percent for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage? When I first got in this business, this was 26 years ago, we were lucky to get seven-percent,” said McCown.
McCown says he and other agents believe the interest rates will stay low for the year; which is allowing more buyers to get in and sellers to finally sell at the prices they want.
“This reminds me a little bit of the big crash back in 2007, where things got so crazy, and prices were escalating so fast. Lots of investors were coming in. But there are some significant differences,” said McCown.
One, back then, rent didn’t support the housing prices. Two, Tucson being a destination living location with its good weather. And three, seeing how the Phoenix market is acting; which McCown says, is much more hectic. Tucson typically follows the trends that Phoenix sees but at a slightly slower pace.
“So I think we're gonna see a trend of more sellers putting their houses on the market, especially with the higher prices. And then the competition for those ... should level out as buyers see more inventory. And hopefully, we will just have kind of a soft leveling out, instead of a significant drop,” said McCown.
And McCown says as a buyer in the type of market we are seeing right now it is pretty tough.
“Because you will be making multiple offers. Working with sellers is so much easier, you put something out and gone,” said McCown.
But ultimately, he says you could argue that we are in both a buyer's and a seller's market. Sellers are getting their price and more, while buyers have the historically low-interest rates to take advantage of.