BTW, I don’t believe that the speculative market is very strong right now...so, yeah, an increase in interest rates *at this time* would need to be very small to not slow sales.
That said, a sign that interest rates would go up further might cause a temporary surge in purchases to get in ahead of the high rates.
“a sign that interest rates would go up further might cause a temporary surge in purchases to get in ahead of the high rates.”
Always logical, but this is short term-only. With our long term outlook seeing rising rates, this will spell trouble ahead for the housing market as seen here.
http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~gpainter/Role_of_Interest_Rate_Painter_Redfearn.pdf