Realtors say buy now as home prices begin to rise

If you’re looking for a home, now’s the time buy according to local realtors. With the price of houses rising, realtors say now’s the time to buy before interest rates rise as well.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce the median new-home sales price has jumped by nearly $297,000 from last year or about 13.5 five percent.

In Ocean City, prices have jumped even higher, with local realtors saying prices are up 17 percent.

So why buy now if prices are up?

“The interest rates eventually are going to start to inch back up, prices are going back up, so now is the time to buy when you can get in at a low interest rate and you can still get a really good deal down here.” said Long and Foster realtor Dale Chambers.

Chambers said the rise in price is simply a matter of numbers, when more people buy homes, the price goes up.

Right now, low interest rates and an economy on the upswing have given potential home owners the confidence to buy Chambers said.

Chambers add that this year the home buying season hasn’t slowed in Ocean City,

“Normally by this time of the year we have started to slow down and that is not the case in our area now, people are still coming down, people are still coming in, people are still buying properties,” Chambers said.

Chambers said thus far this has been the best year the Ocean City housing market has seen since 2007.

According to her and fellow realtors , this upwards trend isn’t expected to end anytime soon.