While examining the same evidence, experts are coming to different conclusions about everything from the Fed’s hardline stance on interest rates to the sentiment of homebuilders, realtors, and buyers on their gut feelings about the direction the market is going.
The many possibilities reflect the market’s imbalance, with sales of new homes and existing homes declining from the previous year while home prices remain high.
Recently, the housing market has been “sending out a lot of contradictory signals,” according to Neda Navab, president of brokerage operations at the New York City-based real estate firm Compass. “If you’re a pessimist, you’ll never lack for things to worry about. There are many positive aspects if you’re an optimist.”
This causes specialists to make some educated guesses about the future.
Is there a housing slowdown?
There is general agreement that the property market has seen a sharp decline in activity since its peak, which was caused by the epidemic.
According to Greg Phillips, chief technology officer of Houwzer, a real estate business located in Philadelphia, that slowdown will last for around 18 months with minor price drops.
The home market “moves at a different, slower pace, not like the turbulent stock market, continuously going up and down,” Phillips added.
Millions of buyers “still want and need to buy homes,” according to Compass’ Navab, even though some are backing off in the face of constrained affordability, rising mortgage rates, and general economic uncertainty.
According to Navab, buyers, sellers, and real estate agents have already begun to adapt to the slowdown, even though property sales prices have decreased.