Mortgage Rates Are at 15-Month Highs—but Waiting To Buy May Backfire, Study Finds

The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage hit a 15-month high of 6.76% last week, increasing from the previous week’s average rate of 6.71%.While potential buyers often wait for high rates to fall, buying immediately resulted in a better outcome than waiting for potential market improvements in 61% of scenarios, according to a new historical analysis from top wholesale lender AD Mortgage.The national mortgage broker analyzed home prices, mortgage rates, and the median household income in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., between the years of 2000 and 2022 to determine whether homebuyers benefitted from waiting two years to make a purchase while accumulating additional savings.The scenario with the lower total purchase and financing cost was considered the favorable outcome. Across all years and all 50 states and D.C., buying immediately outperformed waiting in 61% of scenarios. Florida and California had the highest immediate buying advantages at 74%, which AD Mortgage attributed to long-term home price growth in the two states. West Virginia had the lowest buy-now advantage at 39% and was one of only two states where the buying advantage was under 50%.At different periods of...