Kara Lavender

Kara Lavender at John Burns Research and Consulting surveys about 300 builders monthly.

And she says incentives are now averaging about 7% of the asking price for a property, about twice the pre-COVID average.

Builders will do things like include appliances for free.

Builders might also offer cash for closing costs.

And they might, maybe, actually cut the asking price for a home, but only as a last resort, says Robert Dietz.

He's chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders.

Often, lowering what the monthly payment will be is a key selling point, experts say.

And one way builders have been doing that is by lowering the interest rates buyers pay on mortgages, lower than what you'd get at a bank.

Builders do this by essentially buying mortgages in bulk from a lender, says Allie Wolf, chief economist at the housing data and consultancy firm Zonda.

All of this leaves potential buyers with a bewildering array of options.

That is, if they can afford to take advantage of the deals in the first place.

I'm Novosafo for Marketplace.

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