On this week’s episode of the Knowledge Brokers Podcast, Byron Lazine and Tom Toole start with rising mortgage rates, which reached 6.75% yesterday and are inching closer to 7%.
They discuss their expectations for the first quarter of 2023, given the continued decline in housing inventory, along with the 7.7% drop in mortgage demand.
The conversation turned to a CNBC video with Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman saying, “We’re still at half the housing inventory of 2016–2019,” with both Byron and Tom offering their takeaways.
Meanwhile, as mortgage rates climb, homebuilder sentiment is also on the rise. Because even with the increase in monthly costs, pent-up buyer demand is pushing more home shoppers into the market.
So, while inflation caused an uptick in mortgage delinquency in the final quarter of 2022, buyers in the first quarter of 2023 seem less inclined to wait for conditions to improve.
Byron and Tom wrapped up with a discussion on what agents should be focusing on right now and some examples of value-based follow-up, including a reference to BAM’s most recent live cold-calling event, featuring the newest BAM Creator.
Click on any of the timestamps below to watch:
00:40 Just two weeks ago, we were at 5.99%
02:18 Byron’s prediction for 2023 with mortgage rates and pent-up demand
04:15 Mortgage demand plummeted 7.7%
04:30 Glen Kelman interview on CNBC: “Half the inventory we had in 2016-2019”
06:51 KCM chart on buyer demand at different mortgage rate levels
11:26 70% of agents have no experience with a down market
15:15 Homebuilder sentiment is up
23:07 Watch the Hot Sheet to be as informed as you need to be as an agent
29:59 Takeaways from Glenn Kelman’s comments on the CNBC video
34:20 Mortgage rates will probably hit 7% within a week
35:14 What agents should be focusing on right now
37:11 Value-based follow-up
Click here to watch the full episode.
