Housing Market Expected To Stay Strong Through Rest Of The Year

The housing industry is expected to have a happy holidays.

Jonathan Smoke, the chief economist for Realtor.com, writes that the market is strong, and should remain so for the rest of the year.

The year’s total home sales through September are up 4 percent compared to the same period in 2015. Existing-home sales are up 3 percent. New-home sales, which now account for one-in-ten of all total sales, are up 13 percent.

Tight supply and growing demand will lead to price appreciation. Millennials and Baby Boomers are now reaching stages in life where buying a home is an important goal. Smoke says that mortgage rates are expected to increase in December, but not dramatically.

Once the presidential election is (finally!) behind us in less than a week, consumer confidence should rebound from its recent decline. A stronger consumer outlook on top of historically high numbers of people turning 30 as well as 65 will provide the support for continued gains in the months ahead. The key challenges will be continuing low levels of available homes for sale combined with navigating marginally higher mortgage rates.

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