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3 times to buy a home with rates high (and 3 times not to)

It could make sense to buy a home when mortgage rates are high, but that won’t always be the case.

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Today’s interest rate environment isn’t the most friendly for borrowers. With the federal funds rate still paused at a 23-year high, today’s mortgage rates may be less than desirable. With 30-year mortgage rates currently hovering near 7%, today’s rates are a far cry from the 3% mortgage rates that were common in 2020 and 2021.

But high mortgage rates don’t necessarily have to put your house hunt on hold. There are a few times when it may be a good idea to buy a home with a high mortgage rate — and a few times to avoid it.

Compare the mortgage rates you could qualify for now.

3 times to buy a home with rates high (and 3 times not to)

Here are three times it makes sense to buy a home with high rates and three times it doesn’t.

3 times to buy a home with rates high

Here’s when buying a home may be advantageous, even in a high-rate environment.

When you want to avoid competition

High rates can price buyers out of the market, which could benefit you if you buy in now. After all, recent data shows that mortgage application volume has been lower, indicating that fewer buyers are looking for homes right now.

With fewer buyers in the market, you may have fewer offers to compete with. That could result in a higher likelihood that your offer will be accepted. And, depending on the market, it could also mean that sellers are open to price negotiations.

Get your mortgage loan pre-approval online now.

When you want to escape rising rent prices

The cost of rent is increasing in most markets. If your rent is on an upward trend and you’re concerned about being priced out of your rental unit, it may be time to look into buying a home. After all, rent doesn’t build equity, but owning a home does. And even with today’s high mortgage rates, building equity is a big benefit of homeownership.

Plus, when you own your home, you can’t be priced out of it simply because home values increase. You can be priced out of renting when rental prices climb, though.

When new opportunities require you to relocate

There may be career or other opportunities that require you to relocate to a different city or another part of the country, like a dream job opportunity in another state. If that’s true for you, it may be wise to purchase a home in the new location now, even with high rates. After all, you can still refinance when the interest rate environment cools.

3 times not to buy a home with rates high

Here are a few times you may want to avoid buying a house when mortgage rates are high.

When you can’t afford the payments

Higher mortgage rates typically result in higher monthly payments on your mortgage loan. If you can’t afford the monthly payments on a home in your market due to today’s high mortgage rates, it may be best to hold off until rates decline in the future.

When you’re happy with your current home

If you’re happy with your current home, buying a new home in today’s high interest rate environment may not be the best choice. It will only cost you more in interest to move, and if you’re content where you are currently, it may be better to wait for mortgage rates to cool instead before you make your move.

When the prospect for rate cuts is high

It may also be wise to wait if you think mortgage rate cuts are on the horizon. After all, just a slight reduction in mortgage rates could result in big savings over the life of your mortgage loan, so waiting a few extra months for that to happen could be a smart strategy. Remember, though, that there’s no real way to accurately gauge where the mortgage rate environment is headed, so holding off could be a gamble, especially if you need to make your move within a specific time frame.

Find out what your mortgage loan options could be today.

The bottom line

While securing a low mortgage rate is ideal, there are times when purchasing a home at a high rate makes sense. Doing so could help you avoid competition during your house hunt, escape rising rent prices or capitalize on new opportunities that require you to relocate. But you may also want to avoid purchasing a home in today’s high-rate environment if you can’t afford the payments caused by higher rates, if you’re happy with your current home or if you believe that rate cuts are on the horizon.

Joshua Rodriguez

Joshua Rodriguez is a personal finance and investing writer with a passion for his craft. When he’s not working, he enjoys time with his wife, two kids, two dogs and two ducks.

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Trump’s claims on crime rates clash with police data

Surging crime levels, out-of-control Democratic cities and “migrant crime.”

Former President Donald Trump regularly cites all three at his campaign rallies, in news releases and on Truth Social, often saying President Joe Biden and Democrats are to blame.

But the crime picture Trump paints contrasts sharply with years of police and government data at both the local and national levels.

FBI statistics released this year suggested a steep drop in crime across the country last year. It’s a similar story across major cities, with violent crime down year over year in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.

NBC News analyzed crime data to evaluate Trump’s assertions about the topic.

U.S. and big city crime rates

Trump’s campaign often refers to crime levels, regularly pointing the finger at Biden.

“On Joe Biden’s watch, violent crime has skyrocketed in virtually every American city,” the campaign said in a news release published this month on its site.

Trump himself has made similar remarks.

“Four years ago, I told you that if crooked Joe Biden got to the White House, our borders would be abolished, our middle class would be decimated and our communities would be plagued by bloodshed, chaos and violent crime,” Trump said in a speech last month at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “We were right about everything.”

Government figures don’t support that characterization.

Reported violent crime dropped 6% across the board when comparing the last three months of 2022 to the same period in 2023, the FBI reported.

The reported drops were especially pronounced in the big cities that Trump often assails, many of which have Democratic mayors. Violent crime dropped by 11% in cities with populations of 1 million or more, according to FBI data, while murders dropped by 20%, rape was down 16%, and aggravated assault fell by 11%.

Reached for comment, the Trump campaign pointed to other reports indicating that certain types of crimes increased in specific cities.

At the national level, the reported rate of violent crime in 2022, the most recent full year with comprehensive FBI data, was 380.7 offenses per 100,000 people. That’s lower than the overall reported violent crime rate from 2020 — the last full year Trump was in office — when the figure was at 398.5.

The lowest reported violent crime rate of Trump’s presidency was in 2019, when the metric was at 380.8 — in line with the 2022 rate.

The FBI said it will release more comprehensive 2023 crime data in October, just before the election.

The Trump campaign, reached for comment, cited certain categories of violent crime, such as motor vehicle theft, as having increased during the Biden administration, according to FBI figures.

“Joe Biden is trying to convince Americans not to believe their own eyes,” campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, adding that “Democrats have turned great American cities into cesspools of bloodshed and crime.”

New York City crime

Trump, who was born and raised in New York but now lives in Florida, often rails against what he portrays as an increasing crime rate in his former hometown.

Those references to soaring violence have only increased as he faces criminal charges in New York accusing him of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump, who has pleaded not guilty in that case, must also post a $175 million bond to prevent state Attorney General Letitia James from collecting the judgment from a New York civil fraud case.

“I did nothing wrong, and New York should never be put in a position like this again,” Trump posted on Truth Social about the civil judgment in all capital letters. “Businesses are fleeing, violent crime is flourishing, and it is very important that this be resolved in its totality as soon as possible.”

In a separate post, he claimed that “murders & violent crime hit unimaginable records” in the city.

However, major crimes in New York City are down this year by 2.3%, according to police department data comparing year-to-date figures to the same period in 2023.

Those figures for last year were also far below the highs from recent decades. In 1990, more than 527,000 major crimes were reported, compared to more than 126,000 last year, according to New York police data — a drop of more than 75%.

In 2001, more than 162,000 major crimes were reported in New York. The figure dropped by more than 20% over the next two decades.

At the same time, New York City data indicates that the number of major crimes increased in the past few years, though reported violent crimes like murder and rape were down last year from previous years.

‘Migrant crime’

Trump’s dehumanizing language about migrants has become a mainstay of his political speeches since he first sought office in 2015.

In a news release this month, his campaign said the “border Crisis has created a tragic surge in violent crime against innocent American citizens at the hands of some of the world’s most violent criminals.”

Trump has also focused his energy on high-profile cases such as the death of Laken Riley, who was killed in Georgia while jogging. The suspect is a Venezuelan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022.

“Every day, innocent citizens are being killed, stabbed, shot, raped and murdered because of Biden migrant crime,” Trump said in a video posted to his campaign’s X account last week.

However, there is no evidence of a migrant-driven crime wave in the U.S., according to local police department data.

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Sexually transmitted infection rates rose among older people, CDC data shows

Sexually transmitted infections are becoming more common in older adults.

Rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in people ages 55 and up more than doubled in the U.S. over the 10-year period from 2012 to 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of syphilis cases among people ages 55 and up increased seven-fold during those 10 years, while gonorrhea cases increased nearly five-fold and chlamydia cases more than tripled during that time.

A presentation to be delivered Thursday — part of a lead-up event to the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases next month — warns that both doctors and older adults are overlooking the risks of STIs in this age group.

“We talk about smoking, we talk about diet, exercise, so many things, and not about sex at all,” said Justyna Kowalska, the author of the presentation and a professor of medicine at the Medical University of Warsaw.

The issue is not limited to the U.S. In England, surveillance data published in 2022 suggested that STI diagnoses rose 22% from 2014 to 2019 among people ages 45 and up. Chlamydia was the most common, followed by gonorrhea.

Kowalska pointed to a few factors that may be driving up STI rates among older adults.

For one, people are living longer compared to past generations and enjoying more active lifestyles in their 60s, 70s and 80s. For many, that includes sex. A 2018 survey from AARP and the University of Michigan estimated that 40% of people ages 65 to 80 are sexually active, and nearly two-thirds are interested in sex.

Hormone replacement therapy, which can treat symptoms of menopause, can prolong sexual desire in older women, while erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra can help older men remain sexually active.

But older adults may not have gotten the type of sex education provided to teenagers today, according to Matthew Lee Smith, an associate professor at the Texas A&M School of Public Health.

“Back in the ’30s, the ’40s, the ’50s, traditional school wasn’t really doing sexual education very formally,” said Smith, who studies behavioral health risks in older adults.

Smith’s research has shown that older adults lack some knowledge about STI transmission, symptoms and prevention.

He said doctors can be sheepish about asking older patients about their sexual activity, and older people often aren’t inclined to discuss their sex lives with peers or family members.

“No one wants to think about grandma doing this,” Smith said. “You certainly aren’t going to ask grandma if she was wearing condoms — and that’s part of the problem, because every individual regardless of age has the right to intimacy.”

Some older men may struggle with condom use, Smith said, either because of a lack of dexterity or erectile dysfunction.

What’s more, he added, many older adults married at a younger age than is typical now and only had one sexual partner until they divorced or were widowed. So some might not think to use a condom, Smith said — especially since pregnancy isn’t a concern.

Nursing homes also create opportunities for new sexual partners. The results of a U.S. survey of nursing home directors, published in 2016, found that sexual activity was common in these settings, which often have more female than male residents.

“In the heterosexual, older adult community, there’s a partner gap: Women live longer than men and there’s a larger proportion of females to men,” Smith said. “What it can lead to oftentimes is multiple partners and sharing of partners.”

Though STIs pose health risks to all age groups, older people may have a harder time clearing infections or be more susceptible to contracting them in the first place, medical experts said.

“The immune system is weaker, so you can get an infection easier, but there’s other physical things related to just sexual intimacy that make one more susceptible,” said Ethan Morgan, an assistant professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University College of Nursing. Among women who are postmenopausal, for instance, the vaginal lining is more prone to tearing, which makes it easier for an infection to occur.

The experts stressed that doctors need to do a better job of discussing safe sex with older patients.

“We want them to have their best life,” Smith said, “but we want them to have it safely.”

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4 times you should buy a home with interest rates high

If you find your dream home, it may be worth purchasing, even with mortgage interest rates as high as they are.

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After plummeting during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, mortgage interest rates have been on a steady upward trend. Thanks to decades-high inflation and a surging benchmark interest rate meant to tame it, mortgage interest rates have risen exponentially, hitting their highest point since 2000 last summer. While they’ve come down slightly since, disappointing inflation reports to start 2024 have resulted in the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged — and mortgage rates have stagnated.

That said, today’s mortgage rates are still relatively low, historically speaking. And the hope is high that a reduction in the benchmark interest rate later this year will also lower homebuyers’ rates. But there are some compelling reasons why homebuyers shouldn’t wait for that to happen. Below, we’ll detail three times you may want to buy a home even with interest rates as high as they are.

Ready to get started? See what mortgage interest rate you could qualify for here now.

4 times you should buy a home with interest rates high

Here are four instances in which you should consider buying a home despite higher mortgage rates.

When you find your dream home

Your dream home won’t be listed for sale every day, hence its name. When it does come up for sale, then, many would recommend buying it, even if it comes with a higher interest rate. After all, you could always refinance to a lower rate in the future, when the market stabilizes.

But, if you wait, you’ll lose out on the opportunity to own a home you truly love — and that opportunity may not arise again soon, particularly in desirable neighborhoods and locations around the country.

Learn more about today’s mortgage rate options online.

When you can afford the higher rate

Crunch the numbers and closely review your budget. You may be surprised at how much you can afford, even with today’s elevated rates. While no one wants to pay more than they should, mortgage interest rates are temporary and subject to change over time.

So if you can afford the higher rate and want to buy a home now, feel free to do so — and just look for the opportunity to refinance in the future.

When the home price is affordable

If you find a home priced right, or even lower than expectations, it could be worth buying, even with mortgage rates as high as they are. Understand that when mortgage rates eventually do come down, a whole slew of related complications may come into play, including a potential rise in home prices. But if you find an affordable home now, before that happens, it could be worth purchasing.

When the alternative is renting

Renting may be the only recourse for many. But renting is not a long-term investment and won’t build any equity. If this is the current alternative, then, it may be worth purchasing a home if you can afford it instead of renting with no end in sight.

While it may be more expensive than preferred, there are multiple advantages to owning a home versus renting, from the aforementioned home equity accumulation (which will build immediately) to interest tax deductions each year (which can be substantial at today’s high interest rates) and the potential profit that can be earned when selling.

Learn more about today’s top mortgage options online.

The bottom line

Today’s elevated mortgage rate environment isn’t preferable for homebuyers, but it doesn’t mean that you should refrain from acting, either. If you discover your dream home, can afford the interest rate, find an affordable house, or have an alternative to rent, it can be worth it for you now. Just make sure to crunch all of the numbers — including closing costs — before proceeding so you know exactly what you can afford to buy at today’s rates.

Matt Richardson

Matt Richardson is the managing editor for the Managing Your Money section for CBSNews.com. He writes and edits content about personal finance ranging from savings to investing to insurance.

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