Home buyers turn to bank of mom and dad for lower interest financing

(NewsNation) — Lending for Americans has gotten pricier as the average 30-year fixed rate is 2% higher than it was a year ago, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

For perspective, the average 30-year rate one year ago was 2.78%. Last week alone, that rate rose to 5.54% from 5.51%.

The reason is record-high inflation, which is why many millennials and first-time home buyers are now turning to the bank of mom and dad for cheaper loan options.

“Lending guidelines have gotten a little tighter: You need a little bit more money down and you need to have assets available for you to kind of put down and still qualify,” Joshua Massieh said on NewsNation’s “Rush Hour” Friday.

Massieh is a real estate and mortgage banking expert at The Trading Fraternity who also gives real estate advice through his Instagram Lendingtips.

“So I’ve seen it a lot more commonly in the last two years than ever before. I would say one in every five transactions has a gift from a family member,” Massieh said.

Bonnie Heatzig agreed. An executive director of luxury sales at the New York real estate firm Douglas Elliman, she said she’s seen borrowing from family become more common.

“When they create this intra-family mortgage, they’re in a position to give them perhaps a lower interest rate than they would get on the open market, give them flexible payment terms,” she said. “So it’s just a way of parents using their wealth to help their children have an easier time and buy that home of their dreams.”

Most economists expect the Federal Reserve to jack up its borrowing rate another half to three-quarters of a point when it meets next week. Fed policymakers have signaled that much higher interest rates may be needed to reign in stubborn, four-decade-high inflation. The central bank already raised its benchmark rate by a half-point in May and another three-quarters of a point last month, the biggest single hike since 1994.

Rapidly hiking rates risk tossing the U.S. economy into a recession, but it’s also the Fed’s most powerful tool to get price increases back to the 2% annual target.

Consequently, higher borrowing rates have sidelined many house hunters and cooled what was a red-hot housing market — one of the most important sectors of the economy. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed for the fifth consecutive month in June.

While one may have to jump through fewer hoops to go through a family member, both Massieh and Heatzig advised speaking with a CPA or tax expert to make sure the money borrowed is within the rules, and making sure the relationship with that family member is on solid ground.