Home values are appreciating more slowly, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise rates twice more in 2018, and sellers are having to cut list prices more frequently.
Experts are saying that the housing market is reaching "an inflection point," as each of these factors converge and reshape market conditions. Nikolas Scoolis, an analyst with Meyers Research housing consultancy, adds that buyers are slowing down and rethinking their investment, rather than buying up any property they can get, and sellers have had to make changes accordingly in their list prices and selling strategies. The top factor, Scoolis says, are rising rates prompting buyers to ask themselves, "What will I compromise to buy a homelocation, price, design, or size," CBS News reports.
"The frenetic pace of the housing market over the past few years is starting to return toward a more normal trend," said Zillow senior economist Aaron Terrazas. "The housing market has tilted sharply in favor of sellers over the past two years, but there are very early preliminary signs that the winds may be starting to shift ever-so-slightly." Still, it's too soon to call this a buyer's market, Terrazas said. Housing prices will appreciate at about double their historic rate over the next 12 months, he said.