US pending home sales fell to their lowest level in 20 years in October as mortgage rates surged to their highest levels of the year, according to a report released Thursday.
Pending home sales dropped 1.5% last month from September, monthly data from the National Association of Realtors showed. The pending home sales index — a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings rather than closings — was down 8.5% from a year ago.
Only the Northeast saw monthly gains in pending transactions in October, while the Midwest, South and West all experienced a loss. All four US regions had year-over-year declines in transactions.
We’re looking at wine country in both CA and OR. Both places have strict zoning regulations about how open land can be used, so a lot of land can’t be used for residential purposes at all. Even if you use it for farming or cattle, you still can’t put a house on a lot of it. That limits where anyone can live, both locals who need to live there and vacationers who want a second home. We want to be ethical in how we buy a future retirement home and not take up a home that could be used by a local just to sit empty half the time until we retire, so we aren’t just buying a house in town. We’re looking to buy land that we can lease as farm land until we can apply for zoning changes while also staying in an Airstream there when we visit.
Before the interest rates went up, there was so little inventory in those areas we just stopped looking. Now there are a ton of for sale homes and properties. I’m guessing the homes for sale are mostly vacation homes that are being liquidated for cash. Inside the towns where more traditional homes on small lots are built, the prices are decent and availability is great. But these are smaller towns far outside of cities.