On Your Side Podcast: Homebuyers get around higher mortgage rates

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- It seems like the Arizona real estate market has been a roller coaster ride. Prices went up dramatically and became a seller’s market. But then interest rates doubled, kind of slowing things down, or did it?

When it comes to keeping up with Valley real estate, it may feel a little confusing at times. “The irony here is that we are still in a seller’s market believe it or not,” Tina Tamboer said on the On Your Side podcast. She’s the senior housing analyst with the Cromford Report which provides detailed information on our real estate market.

On the On Your Side podcast, she explained we were in a buyer’s market toward the end of the year, but it didn’t last long before going back to a mild seller’s market when the new year hit.

Buyers are able to get around the higher interest rates imposed by the federal government by taking advantage of some clever loan packages called the 2-1 Buy Down. “The most common one is the 2-1 buy down. It takes mortgage rates which are 6.3% right now,” Tamboer said. “It takes that down to 4.3% for the first year, 5.3% for the second year, and then 6.3% for the third year.

Could this lead to problems down the road? “Our numbers do not support any type of crash,” she said. “In 2008 we had 56,000 home listings. But this time around we’re dealing with 13,000 or 14,000, and that is a big, big difference.”

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