Memory is flawed and I believe that people forgot what the housing market was like prior to 2020. People were told that the housing market of 2019 was in a new normal, and, yes, signs were pointing to a balanced market. Then 2020 shocked the housing market, and everyone took a short break during the health crisis. After a short market shock, home buyers came back in droves and further stressed the already limited home sale inventory. And for almost two years, a crazy and sometimes irrational sellers’ market was the “new normal.” What will be the new normal for home selling 2023?
Besides quick home sales, home sellers have also become accustomed to double-digit home sale price growth. However, steep interest rate increases have seemingly cooled home buyer motivation. Home sales dropped to their lowest levels in a decade. The question that everyone seems to be trying to answer is how will the current conditions play out.
Supply and demand. The one aspect, in retrospect, that has driven the housing market since 2013 is home sale inventory. Home sale inventory never completely bounced back to equilibrium levels since then, and sparked the several sellers’ market mini-cycles in the past decade.
Chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, Lawrence Yun, agrees, saying in a recent NAR new release “For most parts of the country, home prices are holding steady since available inventory is extremely low. Some places are experiencing price gains, while some places, most notably in California, are seeing prices pull back.”
Yun commented that the sharp mortgage rate spike since January has definitely impacted the volume of home sales this year. However, talking about home sale inventory, he stated, “Housing inventory is about a quarter of what it was in 2008,” Yun said. “Distressed property sales are almost non-existent, at just 2%, and nowhere near the 30% mark seen during the housing crash. Short sales are almost impossible because of the significant price appreciation of the last two years.”
Yun anticipates home sales to continue to decline about 7 percent in 2023, however, national median home prices will modestly increase in the range of 1 percent.
Home selling 2023: If you’re planning a home sale in next year, make certain you have a reasonable home sale strategy. Make certain you prepare you home by decluttering and making necessary repairs. Pay close attention to neighborhood home sale trends. And don’t overprice your home when choosing a list price.
By Dan Krell
Copyright © 2022
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