I don't know where you are. Are you in US, Canada, Britain, Australia? So, I, m kind of lost. I think if the interest rate is high, usually, it means the inflation rate is also high, so you have less purchasing power, that means if you 'let's say usually spend $ 3 on gas, you have to spend $ 3,15 or whatever amount. It doesn't have to be gas. it can be other necessities, such as groceries, electricity, transportation, rent, etc,etc. If you say the real estate rates are going down, chances are it can go up. If I were you, I would buy a house because with the interest rate so high, it is USUALLY not so interesting to invest money in saving or money market, because the inflation also goes up. That's why in many countries where the interest rate is so high, usually their currencies are not stable, a lot of people do something else with their money: buying gold, foreign currencies, invest in real estate. This is just my opinion. I am not a financial expert though

I believe purchasing a home is always the route to take. When you rent, your money is not going towards the purchase of anything. When you are buying a home you are investing. Even with high interest rates you still are investing your money to your benefit. You may refinance at a later date when interest rates decline. My husband and I own 5 rental properties. 3 of those properties have been paid off by our renters and are now 100% cash flow properties. Granted we pay taxes and insurance on those properties, but one of our renters has been there for 26 years. She would own her home outright if she were paying her own mortgage.

If interest rates are already high, chances are they will later go down, which will make you better off if you buy. If real estate prices are going down and you are patient, you should be able to drive a hard bargain. It seems to me that usually there is a shortage of houses and so the prices are always at the point of extracting every last cent out of the poor buyers. Since affordability is related to repayments, high interest rates will be offset by low prices and low interest rates will be offset by high prices. At the end of the day it will still be every last cent out of your wallet. The only question now is have interest rates peaked? That's the time to buy. Then again, due to the tax laws (depending on where you live, of course) and negative gearing, you can usually rent for half the price of buying. That's good in the short term but in the long term inflation will eventually make your house repayments cheap anyway. (But not always, I've heard Japan has been flat for a long time now but I haven't checked). When you rent, you don't have to pay for repairs. If you rent out a place for other people to live in, sure you have to pay for repairs but with before tax dollars not after tax dollars like you use when you fix your own place. This suggests you should buy a place, rent it out to someone else and then rent another place for yourself to live in! With all money problems, there are many ways to save money or get rich but the devil is always in the detail. Don't expect things to go exactly as written in an advice column. Don't forget to look at what is important in the non-monetary side of your life. Sometimes you just have to say "Phuket" and sometimes bad ideas turn out to be not so bad after all and sometimes good ideas lose all their goodness in the real world.