Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

  One of the biggest questions on everyone’s minds right now is: when will mortgage rates come down? After several years of rising rates and a lot of bouncing around in 2024, we’re all eager for some relief. While no one can project where rates will go with complete accuracy or the exact timing, experts offer some insight into what we might see going into next year. Here’s what the latest forecasts show. Mortgage Rates Are Expected To Ease and Stabilize in 2025 After a lot of  volatility  and uncertainty, the  most updated  forecasts suggest  rates  will start to stabilize over the next year, and should  ease  a bit compared to where they are right now ( see graph below ): As Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR),  says :  “While mortgage rates remain elevated, they are expected to stabilize.” Key Factors That’ll Impact the Future of Mortgage Rates It’s important to note that the tim...

  A lot of people assume spring is the ideal time   to sell   a house. And sure, buyer demand usually picks up at that time of year. But here’s the catch: so does your competition because a lot of people put their homes on the market at the same time. So, what’s the real advantage of  selling your house  before spring? It’ll stand out. Historically, the number of  homes for sale  tends to drop during the cooler months – and that means buyers have fewer options to choose from. You can see how that trend played out over the past few years in  this data  from the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR). Each time, the supply of homes for sale dipped during these cooler months. And then, after each winter lull, inventory started to climb as more sellers jumped into the market closer to spring ( see graph below ): Here’s why knowing how this trend works gives you an edge. While inventory is higher this year than it‘s been in the last fe...

January 23, 2024 For Buyers Pricing First Time Home Buyers Housing Market Updates Even though home prices are going up nationally, some people are still worried they might come down. In fact, a recent  survey  from  Fannie Mae  found that 24% of people think home prices will actually decline over the next 12 months. That means almost one out of every four people are dealing with that fear, and you might be, too. To help ease that concern, here's what experts forecast will happen with prices this year. Experts Project a Modest Increase Check out the latest  home price  forecasts from eight different sources ( see graph below ): The blue bar on the left means, on average,  experts  think  home prices  will go up over 2% by the end of this year – not down. Prices  aren’t likely to depreciate in 2024 because  inventory  is still tight and lower  mortgage rates  are leading to strong  buyer demand . Those two fac...