This article originally appeared here: https://fairwayreverse.com/blog/how-seniors-can-double-home-buying-power-rising-interest-rates/
These days, in much of the U.S., the housing market is tilted sharply in favor of sellers. There’s fierce competition among buyers, interest rates have been rising, inventory is tight, and home prices are at record highs.
According to Fannie Mae, U.S. home prices are expected to rise 10.8 percent this year. That’s on the heels of a nearly 19 percent jump in home prices in 2021. The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed into the 5 percent territory in April 2022 and recently breached the 6 percent threshold — that rate had been under 4 percent throughout 2020 and 2021. As if all that isn’t enough for today’s homebuyers to contend with, inflation recently hit a 40-year high. Inflation erodes the purchasing power of current and future cash flows, which can be of particular concern for retirees on a fixed income.
There are many older-adult homeowners who would like to downsize, upsize, or right-size into their dream home — or a new home that simply better meets their lifestyle in retirement — but they are choosing to stay on the sidelines. Some reasons for their hesitancy to move may include getting priced out of the housing market; not wanting to take on a new mortgage payment in retirement; not wanting to give up all of the proceeds from the sale of their current home and/or to have drain their retirement savings to pay in all cash; and unease with the current housing and borrowing environments.
What Are the Ways Homebuyers Aged 62+ Can Purchase a New Home?
Historically, there have been two ways to purchase a new home: 1) pay in all cash, or 2) take out a mortgage that requires monthly principal and interest payments.
However, now there’s a third way: Pay using a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) for Purchase (H4P) loan.
