As part of "the great housing slowdown of 2018," prompted by rising interest rates and lacking affordability, some home builders are using a cash-and-prizes approach to draw in buyers.
The housing market may be tilting in buyers' favor, explains Dallas real estate broker Ram Konara, “Everybody is hungry for the buyers.” The new-home sales pace softened to a two-year low in September 2018, and existing-home sales declined for the sixth consecutive month, marking the worst run since 2014, Bloomberg News reports. Compounding the matter are losses on the stock market: builder stocks have lost more than one-third of their value in 2018 at this point.
Ram Konara, a real estate broker in suburban Dallas, is raking in freebies this year: trips to Lake Tahoe and Santa Barbara in California, Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, and a dude ranch in Wyoming. The homebuyers he represents are cashing in, too. They’re winning price cuts of more than $100,000, on top of free upgrades such as media rooms, cabinets, and blinds.