If your clients are wavering on whether to buy a home, there are several reasons they may want to get more serious about their real estate search, according to MagnifyMoney, a personal finance website. Most importantly, mortgage rates remain historically low—but that isn’t expected to last. They’ve been rising steadily, but rates for the current 30-year fixed-rate mortgage are still well below 5 percent, compared to nearly 19 percent In 1981. “The housing market has been on pretty solid footing now for a number of years, and a lot of that is due to pretty affordable mortgage rates,” says Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a real estate professor at Columbia Business School. In a recent Reuters poll, 45 housing analysts predict that by the end of 2019, the average rate for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage likely will be above 5 percent. So buyers who lock in a rate this year likely will have lower borrowing costs.

Also, escalating home prices aren’t expected to let up anytime soon. According to the Reuters poll, home values in the 20 largest metro areas are expected to increase by another 5.7 percent before the end of the year. The National Association of REALTORS® predicts growth in home prices to continue in the coming years, but year-over-year growth likely will slow to 3 percent or 5 percent. “Home ownership is long-term prospect,” says Paul Bishop, NAR’s vice president of research. “So as long as prices continue to increase at even a modest pace over the next four, five, eight, 10 years, then that equity does build up, in some cases, to quite a substantial part of someone’s net worth.”

Home shoppers who are holding out for more inventory may need to accept that the waiting game likely won’t be successful. At the end of May, there were 1.85 million existing homes for sale, including single-family homes, condos, town homes, and co-ops. That is 6.1 percent lower than a year ago, according to NAR. Construction is on the rise but new developments are only accounting for about 2 percent of the market, says Van Nieuwerburgh, adding that “we’re not building enough to alleviate those shortages.”

While there are plenty of reasons why buying makes sense now, housing analysts are quick to point out that consumers shouldn’t take the plunge if they’re not ready financially or personally for the commitment. Prospective buyers need to consider financial security, their location, and their job situation, says Bishop. “Ultimately, you need to ask yourself: Are you likely to be in a particular location long enough that homeownership makes sense?” he says.

The month of May saw a record number of new-home purchases. Sales of newly built single-family homes increased 6.7 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 689,000 units, the Commerce Department reported Monday. It marks the highest number of new-home sales of the year and the second highest in sales since the Great Recession.

“Sales numbers continue to grow, spurred on by rising home equity, job growth, and reports of a greater number of millennials entering the single-family housing market,” says Randy Noel, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders.

The inventory of new homes for sale was 299,000 in May—a 5.2-month supply at the current sales pace. The median sales price for a new home last month was $313,000.

“We saw a shift to more moderately priced home sales this month, which is an encouraging sign for newcomers to the market,” says Michael Neal, the NAHB’s senior economist. “Since the end of the Great Recession, inventory has tracked the pace of sales growth. While we expect continued gains in single-family housing production, inventory may be partially constrained by ongoing price increases for lumber and other construction materials.”

New-home sales posted the largest increase in the South last month, rising 17.9 percent month over month and reaching a post-recession high. Sales remained unchanged in the Midwest, while sales fell 10 percent in the Northeast and 8.7 percent in the West.

Outdoor projects can help boost a home’s value by up to 10 percent, according to a new realtor.com® report. Outdoor showers, barbecue stations, entertainment pools, and fire-pits are the top projects that realtor.com® researchers found with the biggest potential increases to a home’s price.

For its research, realtor.com® analyzed listings at its site for summer-related outdoor features in single-family homes listed for $150,000 or more.

An outdoor shower offers the biggest return on investment, according to realtor.com®’s research. Researchers found that homes with outside bathing areas had a 97 percent price-per-square-foot premium. They speculate that such a feature may be appealing since it’s usually found in homes that are near a beach or an expensive property with other luxury amenities.

Researchers also found that homes with barbecue stations are 26 percent more expensive than those without. In Utah, homes with barbecue stations tend to be listed for 58 percent more per square foot than other homes in the state.

Also, entertainment pools—with enough space around them for others to lounge—could give a home a 26 percent increase in its value. In New York state, homes with such entertainment pools were 224 percent pricier per square foot than those without.

Fire-pits and backyard fireplaces are also proving to be a hot way for homeowners to boost their home prices. Homes with fire-pits or backyard fireplaces had a 25 percent premium, according to researchers.

“Outdoor features can give a home a special quality in the market,” says Javier Vivas, realtor.com®’s director of economic research. “And anytime you have a unique feature, it can bolster the prospective value of a home.”