High home prices and interest rates contribute to tough market for first-time homebuyers

Alyssa Bickle/Cronkite News Oct. 20, 2023

PHOENIX – High home sales prices and mortgage interest rates are squeezing out first-time home buyers from entering the market, especially as incomes have not kept up, housing experts say.

In 2020, the housing market was in a frenzy. High numbers of homes were selling, agents’ inventories were low and offers were frequently being made over list prices, said Jason Giarrizzo, a realtor with West USA Realty, who has been in the industry for 31 years.

Coming out of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the market continued to surge as people began buying real estate, Giarrizzo said. “We weren’t sure where the market was going to go, (if) it (was) going to plummet because of you know, the shutdown and everything, but it was quite the opposite.”

READ MORE