Homebuyers Might as Well Take the Plunge

Tuesday's hotter-than-expected inflation report pours cold water on the possibility of lower interest rates from the Federal Reserve any time soon, and by extension, the prospect of lower mortgage rates. The standoff is set to continue between buyers balking at high home prices and potential sellers clinging to their homes that were financed at low mortgage rates.

Would-be homebuyers who have decided to wait for mortgage rates to fall so they can afford to leap back into the market should realize that waiting isn't going to help — they would just be swapping their too-expensive financing problem for a bidding-war pricing problem as the number of houses for sale shrinks. The best hope for homebuyers now might be to just go ahead and accept the higher mortgage rates and hope to refinance later.