The outlook for 2016 is promising for the Realtors as the real estate market continues to heat up after years of sluggishness. According to Star Beacon, President Victoria Taylor at Ashtabula County Board of Realtors (ACBR) shares her opinion saying, "The whole county has boomed with real estate sales." Taylor, at the same time, is office manager and partner at Miller Realty.
Furthermore, Taylor reported said that the ACBR represents 24 different offices Ashtabula County, OH and 20 affiliates working in cooperation with respect to the real estate sector. "The biggest factor has been the low interest rates," she reportedly added.
In a previous report, Federal Reserve has finally increased interest rates after nearly a decade, causing concerns that this will have a big impact in mortgage rates. There have also been reports suggesting that the Federal Reserve will continue to raise interest rates in this year.
But a ccording to Star Beacon, the federal interest rate increase happened with only .25 percent increase toward the end of the year. And even so, the publication said that realtors believe that wthe population has a wide selection of expanding "loan products" to choose from. Taylor also added that several veterans have bought houses in the past year, saying, "A lot of people are pulling their veterans benefits."
Taylor however notes that for as long as interest don't significantly increase, the real estate market would still be bright for 2016, adding that an increase of three percentage points is all it takes for sales to be affected.
According to BBC, In a December meeting the Fed members have agreed to an interest rate increase or 25 base points (1 base point = 0.01 percent) or between 0.25 percent and 0.5 percent. Moreover, it was also agreed that the gradual increases will depend on economic conditions taking inflation as one of the many concerns.
