Chicago Loft Costs 20-25% Less Today
Since the height of the housing boom, both the price of a Chicago loft and the mortgage rate associated with it have droped significantly. What this means is nearly a 20-25% savings to today’s home buyer.
We have Andrew Luett from Luett Mortgage Group here to help us with Chicago mortgage rates and Mike Hulett of Lofthunt.com to help with prices on a Chicago loft.
According to Andrew, mortgage rates are down almost a full 1.5% in the past few years. He is showing a composite national average in 2006/2007 of about 6.4% as compares to mortgage rates near 5% today. Mike is showing that similar Bucktown lofts that peaked near $417,000 have dropped to as low as $370,000 if sold today.
Assuming an 80% loan to value on the a home loan based on the $417,000 “old” price at the 6.4% “old” rate, you’d see a payment of almost $2,100/month. At an 80% loan on today’s $370,000 price and 5% interest rate environment, you’d see a payment close to $1,600/month. This is a $500/month or 25% savings to today’s first time home buyer. It is a tremendous amount of savings.
The total savings for today’s first time home buyer is incredible. We know that mortgage rates will go up in 2010 when the Fed is no longer supporting mortgage bonds. Further, we’re already seeing recovery in the housing market and a supply shortage that will push mortgage rates higher. All told, if you’re looking at buying a first home, I don’t know when you’ll get a better opportunity. Believe it or not, there are still great options and great first time home buyer programs for Chicago mortgage loans.