Real estate: You nixed your homebuying plan. What now?

It can be hard to compete when an open house feels like a cage match. It’s enough to make anyone retreat to a rental for a while. Though you may feel stuck right now, you don’t have to be forever. Here’s what to do in the meantime.

(Gestures broadly at everything.)

The median existing home sales price of U.S. homes was US$389,500 in August, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s a 7.7 per cent increase from August 2021. The average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages topped 6 per cent as of Sept. 15 this year, according to Freddie Mac. Compare that with an average rate of 2.86 per cent just one year prior — that’s a 110 per cent increase.

It can be hard to compete when an open house feels like a cage match. It’s enough to make anyone retreat to a rental for a while. “We’re seeing that those who were thinking of buying a home just aren’t interested anymore,” says Natalie Slagle, a certified financial planner and founding partner of Rochester, Minnesota-based Fyooz Financial Planning. “People aren’t as willing to make big financial moves when it feels like there’s uncertainty.”