NC realtors prepare for active 2025 after feds cut interest rate for second time in 2 months

NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) -- The Federal Reserve moved forward with a quarter-point interest rate cut, a move that could alleviate borrowing pressure across several sectors.

Thursday's decision comes following a half-point cut in September. Despite that, mortgage rates have steadily risen over the past several weeks, providing a complicating factor to a largely sluggish housing market.

"I think folks will kind of see where rates go and then make a decision around the beginning of next year," said Alex Lawrence, a realtor with Dogwood Properties.

For most of the year, 30-year mortgage rates have stayed within six and seven percent, and 15-year mortgage rates have been between five and six-and-a-half percent, rates that are notably higher than a few years earlier.

"For a long time, the last couple of years, people said, 'Hey, I'm going to wait for rates to get back to the two or three percent. I think we're finally seeing that they're not going to go back that far," Lawrence explained.

"I probably had 17 to 18 realtors call me because they see the listing, they're looking for something to sell and they really express a lot of concern about the interest rate environment," noted Rick Horner, whose family is selling a property in North Raleigh.

At this point, Horner's family is not utilizing a realtor. A former State Senator, he believes the passage of the election could motivate people to make decisions.

"It's a psychological thing. And I think you will see some activity now that that's over, because the most important thing, the number one thing markets hate is they don't love a Democrat and don't love a Republican. They just don't like uncertainty," said Horner.

Respective budgets also play a role, with more expensive homes less affected by minor variations in mortgage rates.

"People that are still in that lower price point, I think the interest rates are still impacting them more," said Lawrence.

According to Doorify, the number of active listings in Wake County is up nearly 50% since January, with Lawrence anticipating 2025 will bring greater normalization.

"if you're in a hot area like in Raleigh, the house is turnkey, it's priced right, it's going to sell. But they've obviously impacted rates over the last couple of years. So I think the outside markets, like Angier or Franklinton (or) Oxford, they're getting hit a little bit harder than Raleigh is and the greater Triangle," Lawrence explained.

Lower interest rates have had an impact on other forms of borrowing, including credit card debt and car loans.

"Interest rates on (credit cards) are so high, so anything you can do to avoid that debt, we advise people to look (into it)," said Gerald Cohen, Chief Economist at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

WATCH | Other areas impacted by interest rate cut

Lower interest rates have had an impact on other forms of borrowing, including credit card debt and car loans.

According to Edmunds Data, North Carolina has the second-lowest APR on new cars in the southeast, with the average A-P-R on used vehicles falling for four straight months.

"The supply chain has caught up. Auto companies are finding that their deals lots are full of cars, demand is weakening because of higher interest rates. So the auto companies are now putting in incentives to sell cars," said Cohen.

Analysts are bracing for the possibility for the Federal Reserve to institute another rate cut at its meeting next month.

"The markets have shifted a bit. There's only about a two-in-three chance of a rate cut in December, and I think that in some respects reflects this issue of why mortgage rates have risen. What's happened is the economic data has come in to be quite strong. That has kind of changed expectations of the Fed, so I think there's been a pretty significant shift over the past month or two in markets' thinking of how much the Fed is going to cut, how quickly they're going to cut. Because long-term interest rates are basically a series of short-term interest rates, the long-term interest rates have risen even though the Fed has cut rates, and in general if you look at long-term treasury rates, there's a spread between treasury rates and mortgage rates. As treasury rates go up or down, so do mortgage rates," Cohen explained.