With all the happenings throughout the U.S. these past few months, the housing market has been in question. What will this fall market look like after all these natural disasters have taken place? Will mortgage rates soar? Below we’ve recapped predictions and facts about the Fall 2017 Housing Market.
At a glance, the housing market looks stellar. Employment and wages in the U.S. are growing. There is high demand in the buyer’s market, making it a seller’s paradise. Or so it seems. The problem with having too many buyer’s and not enough inventory is it causes prices to sky rocket. With less competition for sellers, they can raise their selling price. This is causing buyers to have to overpay more and more. With such high prices, less and less people are able to afford a home. This especially impacts first time buyers as they have very little market to actually work with. There is a major lack of homes for sale in the needed price ranges. It is predicted that the market will continue with this trend for the rest of the year. This is partly due to the fact that even if only a few buyers go for the higher prices, it keeps the market rolling….though slowly and unsteadily.
Along with these increasing selling prices of existing homes comes increasing prices of new builds. Contractors are finding it increasingly difficult to keep labor and material costs down. This is partly due to the fact that most buyers now a days are looking for the urban setting, where labor and material costs are higher than they would be out in the country. In August, only 2% of new build homes were sold under $150,000. The needed price range for new builds is also skewed.
On a positive note, mortgage rates are estimated to continue to stay low throughout the fall market.
With the increasing prices, more people are choosing to rent. After the big housing crash, many homes were foreclosed and turned around as rentals. This makes the renting market a big pool. In fact, there are 8 million more people renting now than there were ten years ago. The problem with having so many people renting, is that rental prices are now increasing as well.
Whether you are looking to rent, buy or sell, there are two things you can expect this fall, low mortgage rates and increasingly high prices.
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