You’re Closer to Owning a Home Then You Think

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – With interest rates dropping suddenly this month, people are closer to owning a home then they think.

After some steep increases to interest rates throughout most of 2023 we are finally starting to see interest rates begin to come down.

Gate City Banks Executive Vice president of retail banking and lending Kimberly Settel says, “Correlated now too rates going from maybe 8% down to 7% and so that is certainly something. People look at the more recent past of 2% and 3% and they look at 7% and think that’s pretty steep but it surely shouldn’t detour anybody from looking into home ownership.”

Gate City Bank observed an average interest rate drop from eight to seven percent this November with a point four percent decrease on November 2nd alone.

President of Fargo-Moorhead Area Association of Realtors Amber Carlton says, “So if you’re renting you’re not building any equity at all and with us being 16,000 units short on rentals and housing homes to purchase combined that’s causing rents to go up too this is actually a really good time to make that journey into home ownership and start gaining that equity.”

And while this decision is almost strictly about money it’s also about setting yourself up for the future.

“You know the difference between renting and homeownership is you’re kind of investing in yourself, you’re building equity and contributing to your future financial health so there’s a lot of positives to that. That people should not be deterred by rates as they are right now.” said Settel.

Gate City Bank Vice President of Mortgage Operations Jalyssa Sorenson also says many people are pleasantly surprised to learn it may be more affordable to buy.