Will 2019 Benefit Buyers, Sellers, Or Both?

It is expected this year, (2019) that the real estate market is expected to remain a seller’s market. However, many economists believe that the bulk of the market will begin to shift towards a buyer’s market by 2018 and 2019. However, no one has a crystal ball to predict the future. Let’s take a look at the following breakdown predictions from some of the top real estate economists:

“While I expect inventory levels to rise in 2019, it will likely remain a seller’s market,” said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere. “New construction will pick up steam in 2018, but not to levels that will provide sufficient support to a stretched housing market. Sellers will likely find that it will take a little longer to sell, but demand will still outperform supply on the back of a job market that continues to tighten.”

Svenja Gudell, chief economist of Zillow, believes the real estate market in 2019 will skew more towards the seller’s market. However, she also said the market could begin to turn from a seller’s market to buyer’s market in the next few years.

“In some markets, it’ll start to turn already in 2019, where demand isn’t quite so high and you get a little more inventory in and you have buyers better able to negotiate,” said Gudell.

According to National Association of Realtors’ Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, the housing market in 2019 will still suffer from tight supply and affordability issues, which will impact buyers in many markets. However, Yun is optimistic that many of those issues will start to abate as time goes on.

“I think [local Realtors] are seeing a good market condition in terms of buyer activity but inventory shortage — that is the one consistent story that is holding back the recovery potential,” said Yun.

Lastly, Smoke, of Realtor.com fame, believes the real estate market will maintain its status as a seller’s market, although the tide could be changing very soon, especially in certain markets.

“We’re seeing some clear patterns emerge within markets — one might be slowing down and cooling off where another part is really heating up. Real estate is so local that I would argue that a neighborhood view is really where you can see the differences and disparities and changes that are occurring around the country,” said Smoke.

“We tend to have markets that are either above average in price expectation or sales expectation, and there aren’t many markets that have above-average expectations in both — supply constraint is driving the price movement in the strongest price markets, seller’s markets, but the buyer’s markets where buyers are getting a really affordable home, as a result, those markets are seeing a greater growth in sales,” Smoke explained. “Either one is good for real estate,” he concluded.

Real estate market trends are important for a variety of reasons, but none more than gauging the future real estate landscape. Whether a buyer’s market or seller’s market (or both), the aforementioned real estate trends should provide substance for those looking to predict their next move in 2019.

In the market for purchasing or selling property? Contact GAN real estate solutions and perhaps we could work together to reach your goals.