High mortgage rates, recession fears: Who actually wants to buy a house in 2023?

Source: Marketplace — 

The housing market is ending 2022 on a pretty sour note. Pending home sales in November dipped to their second lowest level since the National Association of Realtors started tracking that stat 20 years ago.

And though mortgage rates have dipped in recent weeks, they topped 7% last month and are still way above where they were last year. Add in further expected rate hikes from the Federal Reserve and the uncertainty around a possible recession next year, and you’ve got to ask: Who exactly is going to buy a house in 2023?

To be clear, the housing market in Fresno, California, is not dead. But how’s the market now compared to last year when the influx of remote workers from the Bay Area was in full force?

“I would say like the tortoise and the hare,” said Sabrina Brown, a local real estate broker.