SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Home loan borrowing costs rose for the fifth straight week, bringing the average rate on a 30-year home loan to 7.57% the highest since 2000. 

Christi Bukaty, a Senior Loan Officer with USA Mortgage, said the average mortgage interest rate in Springfield is around 8%, but this shouldn’t keep people from buying a home. 

“Just because the rates are higher does not mean that you shouldn’t be buying a house,” Bukaty said. “You should be buying a home because the rates will go down eventually, but we don’t know when.” 

The Greater Springfield Board of Realtors says home sales in September were down 25% compared to last year. That follows a trend we’ve been seeing all year with home sales down 19% overall in 2023. 

 “There’s been a slight decrease, but we’re still busy,” Austin McGee a realtor with Murney and Associates. “You know, people are still buying, planning for their future.”    

McGee tells me although mortgage rates are higher than they have been in recent years, they are still manageable.  

“We got spoiled with those twos and threes and fours,” Mcgee said. “But this is still pretty average historically.”  

Bukaty said there is no telling exactly how mortgage rates will change, so current rates are something homebuyers will need to adjust to.    

“They’ve got to go back down,” Bukaty said. “But they’re not going to go down to the twos or threes anytime soon.”

But McGee says biting the bullet and buying now could end up saving you money in the long run since there is less competition right now. 

‘So, you’d be better off buying now if rates drop to refinance than to wait for rates to drop,” McGee said.   “Because then you’re going to be competing against six or seven other buyers and that purchase price could go up ten, 20, $30,000 from what you were going to pay.” 

For those first-time homebuyers who are not sure where to start, McGee and Bukaty said realtors and lenders are there to get you started and guide you through the process.