Clearly, the Harrisonburg and Rockingham housing market is still quite competitive right now, especially for homes under $400K.

One reason for this might be related to current mortgage interest rates!

Higher mortgage interest rates result in higher monthly costs.

If some home buyers were looking in the $400K - $500K range when mortgage interest rates were around 3%, they may very well now be looking in the $300K - $400K range now that mortgage interest rates are above 6%.

After all, if you're financing 80%...

$450K purchase at 3.25% mortgage interest rate = $2,011 per month

$350K purchase at 6.25% mortgage interest rate = $2,070 per month

Yikes!

So, if $300K - $400K purchasers were previously only competing with eachother, they might now find themselves competing with buyers who were previously planning to spend up to $500K!

That said, it is of course also true that some $300K - $400K purchasers might also have had to reduce the target price for their home purchase as well.