Homebuyers having a conversation with themselves that probably goes something like this:
this year or next year? Will mortgage rates go down? Will the selection improve?
Latest forecasts see better opportunities for buyers, but aspects of the housing market may remain balanced in favor of sellers in 2024 as housing demand continues to exceed supply.
Many people who want to buy a home were “sitting on the sidelines” as 2023 approached, according to the Virginia Association of Realtors, with mortgage loan rates nearly doubling, home prices booming and properties for sale relatively low last year. Started due to low numbers. (VAR).
The number of homes sold statewide is down 15.7% in 2022, and VAR predicts a 2.5% decline this year.
But with the seasonal kickoff of the upcoming home-buying season in March and April, real estate agents see the beginning of a return to equilibrium in which buyers and sellers have equal power.
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“Where we used to see multiple offers on essentially every listing, we’re not seeing that much anymore,” said Kelly Griffin, president of the New River Valley Association of Realtors. “We’re still seeing a lot of buyers that are in the market or coming to the market, so there are some properties that are getting a lot of interest, but we’re not seeing the level of frenzy that we’re seeing during Looking forward to the pandemic, 2021 specifically.
Laura Benjamin, CEO of the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors, used the word “incredible” to describe 2021.
Potential buyers across the country offered $10,000 or $20,000 more than the listing price, while sellers often received 20 or 30 offers at a time – as many as 100 offers in California. Since then, the market has “been very quiet,” Benjamin said. Sellers don’t have as strong an upper hand as they did and are more receptive to negotiation and some even offer seller-payment incentives, he said.
When asked whether it was a buyer’s or seller’s market, Benjamin said, “It would be called a normal, balanced market, although each side still wants to be in charge.”
Ryan Price, principal economist at VAR, wrote on Dec. 29: “Buyers are in a better position than they have been in recent years. While higher interest rates have cooled buyer activity and reduced purchasing power, buyers who are currently Also active in the market, they may find themselves in better negotiating positions over the years.
The VAR organization represents the 37,000 residential and commercial real estate agents and brokers who belong to the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribe to its code of ethics.
VAR predicts home prices, which rose 7% last year, should rise around 3% this year. So home price inflation will continue, the organization believes, in contrast to another significantly increased consumer expenditure, used vehicles, which is slowly trending down.
According to data kept by the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors, the median price for all homes sold in the Roanoke Valley was $314,285. This is an increase of almost 38% since 2019.
According to the New River Valley Association of Realtors, the 12-month median price for homes sold in New River Valley was $304,510 in January. NRV experienced growth from 2019, similar to Roanoke Valley.
Borrowing costs have increased, with the average rate on a 30-year mortgage rising from 3% last year to near 7%.
VAR predicted a modest decline of 5.2 percent in mortgage interest rates this year.
Officials said the rates remain low from the perspective of the last few decades. Lenders charged fees as high as 18% in the fall of 1981, after which rates have declined steadily.
There are far fewer homes for sale in both areas than in normal times. For example, the number of homes for sale during the high season often exceeded 1,000 in the New River Valley from 2006 to 2018. But inventory fell below 500 during the time of the pandemic.
One reason owners haven’t put their homes on the market is “because they couldn’t find anything to buy them,” Benjamin said.
“Inventory challenges will likely remain,” Price wrote. “We have seen an increase in the supply of active listings in most areas of Virginia over the past year as the frenzied pace of the market subsided. While this is certainly good news for many, the reality is that the overall housing supply remains low. Years of housing underproduction and rising demand from aging Millennials looking to buy their first home continue to put pressure on inventory. Many existing homeowners who have refinanced in recent years are unwilling to lose their ultra-low rates to move to a different property. Therefore, while buyers will have more options than a few years ago, the supply level is unlikely to reach an equilibrium level in 2023.
While mortgage rates have come down from their recent highs of more than 7 percent, they remain nearly twice their 2021 lows, making home ownership a struggle for many.
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Source: roanoke.com
