The combination of various strains on the housing market including rising rates, labor and material costs, and land and affordability constraints are causing experts to ask where housing is headed.
A recent Freddie Mac forecast posits that housing will "remain slow" for the remainder of 2018, adding, "The healthy economy and robust labor market should support homebuyer demand." Meanwhile, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman notes, "We're hearing things from our real estate agents that we haven't heard in three years about homebuyers stepping back from high prices." CNN reports that while home prices are still growing, albeit slower, sales are falling, and foreclosure starts are growing.
The housing analytics firm Attom Data Solutions found that foreclosure starts are increasing again for the first time since 2015. The trend is particularly visible in hurricane-hit cities like Houston, but also increasingly expensive places like Los Angeles. "We're seeing enough in these bellwether markets that I think it's an inflection point," says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president for communications at Attom.
