First-Time Homebuyers Could Make a Comeback in 2024

Zillow’s latest home price expectations survey indicates a return to pre-pandemic housing inventory and home sales in 2024 as new listings gradually rebound ahead of the spring buying season, Forbes reports. The panel of housing market experts suggests that an end to the ultra-competitive COVID-era housing market could be in sight, even if it’s still two years away.

As housing inventory increases nationwide and rising mortgage rates cause a slowdown in home purchases, first-time buyers could make a return to the market after years of grueling price volatility and little to no available supply.

First-time buyers should regain their pre-pandemic share of the market in a couple of years, according to the majority of experts polled, with 26% pointing to 2024, and 25% liking 2025. Eighteen percent of the experts polled did not believe the share of first-time buyers will rise above 45% until after 2030, despite Millennials — the largest U.S. generation ever — aging well into their prime home-buying years before that time.

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