IDAHO — The Fed have raised interest rates for the fourth consecutive time and local financial experts say this has consequences on the economy.
Financial professional and founder of Freedom Retirement Matt Rowley says the idea behind rate hikes is to reduce the difference between supply and demand, but that can come with some unfortunate consequences.
“It makes it tougher, a little bit more expensive to borrow money for things like building projects, home loans, borrowing on credit cards. Those things will cause the rates or the cost of that to go up, which reduces the demand indirectly,” Rowley said.
When the Fed raises their rates then that increases mortgage rates, which then limits how much people can borrow and how much they spend on real estate.
In Idaho’s housing market, another change to mortgage rates can cause concern for some. Rates have essentially doubled over the past year after several years of hitting some record lows.
“It does have an indirect impact on things like real estate market, for example, or if we're having higher rates on credit card debt that may limit how much consumers are willing to put on their credit card and they're also paying more for fewer things,” Rowley said.
Rowley said in Idaho, the level of inflation and real estate is at a rate that nobody else across the country is experiencing, that does provide an extra challenge.
“I'm going to the gas pump, just like you, I'm seeing all the costs go up and there's inflation for a nation, which is 9.1%, I would argue it's probably a little bit higher here in Idaho, we're seeing that in particular with all the influx we've had Folks coming in from other states," Rowley said. “At this point, everybody's agreed, we probably are going to see inflation for the next 2-3 years,” he said.
He recommends making sure you have a plan a good long term plan that's in place and that you have a good balance of your investments.
