6 Housing Predictions for 2019

A new housing forecast for 2019 says that inventory and affordability will remain tight, rates will reach 10-year highs, and offers the top 10 markets to watch in the new year.

Based on survey data and analysis conducted over the past year, Trulia's forecast touches on supply, affordability, demographics, domestic migration, and the impact of past, present, and future natural disasters. Even though 52 percent of Americans are "no more or less concerned than before recent natural disasters about the potential threat of a natural disaster affecting their home," experts anticipate that communities impacted by extreme weather events will increasingly turn to resilient construction, and rely more on natural disaster-related insurance policies.

Over the past several years, home price growth has largely outpaced income growth, making for an increasingly unaffordable homebuying environment. And next year, even as growth in home prices cools, limited supply will continue to help push prices up to some degree. The financial impediments of homeownership are acutely felt among renters who wish to buy: 53 percent say that saving enough for a down payment is the number one obstacle to homeownership, while 36 percent cite rising home prices.

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