If you are planning to buy a home in the nearby future, it’s better to do it sooner rather than later. The latest Home Price Expectation Survey by Pulsenomics showed that home prices will continue to appreciate for the next several years.
Shifting demographics and would-be first-time homebuyers financially ill-prepared to buy will continue to hold back the housing market over the next several years. Despite these hurdles, nearly all of the 107 panelists surveyed said they expect the housing market to normalize within the next five years.
The survey asked panelists (economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists) to predict the path of the U.S. Zillow Home Value Index (the median estimated home value for a given geographic area on a given day) into 2019, and solicited opinions on what is holding back the housing market recovery and when it is expected to normalize.
Asked when they expect the U.S. housing market to normalize, 30% of panelists said they expected the market to stabilize one to two years from now, and 40% said it would take 3-5 years. Almost 20% said they believe the market either already has returned to normal, or will in the next 12 months.
Panelists said they expect U.S. median home values to rise 4.8% in 2014 and another 3.7% in 2015. Panelists also said they expect national median home prices to exceed their 2007 peak in February 2018.
This is in line with the findings from the The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. Their latest report shows that home prices continue to decelerate. The 20-City Composite gained 4.9% year-over-year, compared to 5.6% in August 2014. In summary, even if the rate of home appreciation has slowed, home prices are still rising. This is definitely in line with the price increases (almost 10% on average) we experienced in coastal Orange County in 2014 as compared to 2013.
In a recent video update on the housing market, Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, stated that with both mortgage interest rates and home prices projected to increase in 2015 buying now makes sense.
“If you are planning to buy a home in the next year, it’s better to do it sooner rather than later.”
About Jaleesa Peluso
Jaleesa is Realtor who specializes in Coastal Orange County real estate. For more information about homes in Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, Newport Beach and San Clemente, give us a call at (949) 395-0960.