The real estate crystal ball has good news to share.
This year’s stagnant market may have been defined by high rents, housing costs and mortgage rates — but it’s almost over, and the next one holds better things, according to residential real estate brokerage Redfin.
The company has released its end-of-year forecast, and would-be homeowners will be happy to hear it anticipates a number of significant improvements to 2023’s rather abysmal market climate.
“Signs point to a shift toward a buyer’s market in 2024 as pandemic-driven inflation takes its last gasps, mortgage rates come down and more people list their homes for sale,” the brokerage begins its press release.
As well, Redfin “expects to see an acceleration of consumer-friendly changes to the way Americans buy and sell homes,” namely that, informed by the increased transparency wrought by the internet, “homebuyers in 2024 will become even more aware of how much an agent costs, and less apologetic about negotiating commissions.”
The costly need for buyers to hire their own agent will also likely continue decreasing in the year to come. And while the Department of Justice has not yet even filed a suit regarding listing agents’ involvement in setting buyer’s agents’ fees, the looming threat of it has already influenced brokerages, all of which Redfin predicts will ultimately “be good for consumers, who will have more choices about which services to pay for and how much to pay.”
Unfortunately, renters of larger apartments and homes have a less rosy outlook. The price for such in-demand units will climb, the brokerage predicts, and supply will not keep up.
Prices on smaller rental units, however, may decrease as a freshly constructed backlog of them hit the market.
“Builders, who have focused on building smaller apartment units since around 2019, will start to increase their investment in family-friendly rental units,” the release added, perhaps influencing the forecast for 2025.
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