You’re probably feeling the impact of high inflation every day as prices have gone up on groceries, gas, and more. If you’re a renter, you’re likely experiencing it a lot as your rent continues to
rise. Between all of those elevated costs and uncertainty about a potential
recession, you may be wondering if it still makes sense to buy a home today. The short answer is – it does. Here’s why.
Unlike rents, which tend to rise with time, a fixed-rate mortgage payment is predictable over the life of the mortgage (typically 15 to 30 years). And, when the cost of most everything else is rising, keeping your housing payment stable is especially important.
The alternative to homeownership is
renting – and rents tend to
move alongside
inflation. That means as inflation goes up, your monthly rent payments tend to go up, too (
see graph below):
A fixed-rate mortgage allows you to protect yourself from future rent hikes. With inflation still high, when your rental agreement comes up for renewal, your property manager may decide to increase your payments to offset the impact of inflation. Maybe that’s why,
according to a recent survey,
73% of property managers plan to raise rents over the next two years.
Having your largest monthly expense remain stable in a time of
economic uncertainty is a major perk of homeownership. If you continue to rent, you don’t have that same benefit and aren’t as protected from rising costs.