As most of you will remember, 2013 was a busy year for the housing market. However, the same cannot be said for the first half of 2014, which has proven to be very slow after the less-than-ideal winter weather we’ve seen across the U.S. and rising mortgage rates. Nonetheless, this isn’t to say that things can’t turn around for the second half of the year. In fact, statistics show that we are currently on the road back to normalcy, and market experts have plenty of predictions on what we can expect to come from the remainder of the year.
Supply with Continue to Increase – One of the greatest challenges throughout the past year and a half has been the lack of available homes on the market. However, while the number of resales on the market was at a mere 4.9-month supply back in January, that number increased exponentially by the month of June, reaching the 5.5-month level. Why? According to Michael Simonsen, CEO of Altos Research, “As price increases kick in, more people are above water on their mortgages, so supply is increasing a little bit.”
Prices Will Go Up at a Slower Rate – Though prices are rising, they are not doing so as quickly as they did in 2013. According to research from California-based data firm, Altos Research, through June 20th, prices are only up by 9% year-over-year. Chief Economist at Zillow, Stan Humphries and Chief Economist at CoreLogic, Mark Fleming both predict that home prices will be up by as much as 5% by the end of 2014.
For more examples of market predictions for the remainder of this year, view the article in it’s entirely on Forbes.com. If you have specific questions about what this could mean for you and your real estate ventures throughout West Palm Beach and Southern Florida, contact Leibowitz Realty.
(Source: Forbes)
Posted by: Miki Leibowitz of Leibowitz Realty)