Housing Market Will Be This Spring?

Real estate pros often anxiously await for the spring selling season, a period recognized for an uptick in home sales. But will spring be as hot for the housing market in 2019 as it has been in the past? Ever since the end of 2018, home sales have slowed (a decline of 10% in December when compared to a year prior), and properties are actually sitting on the market for longer (46 days in comparison to 30 days a year ago).

The Way the Housing Market Will Be in Spring

Nevertheless, Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of REALTORS®, states that “multiple data show definitively improving conditions” heading into the spring selling and buying season.

Consumer sentiment about home buying is turning more upbeat, and there are actually greater reports of visitors at open houses, as outlined by recent NAR surveys. The number of openings of lock boxes-which real estate pros use to obtain a key before unlocking a home for a showing-is “measurably higher” in January and February when compared to the second half of 2018, reported by NAR SentriLock data.

Further, the number of consumers making an application for a mortgage to obtain a home is rising. “After the weak conditions of late last year, mortgage applications have picked up notably in 2019 with more consumers evidently searching for a home compared to one year ago,” Yun writes in his latest real estate column at Forbes.com. Also, contract signings to purchase a home rose 4.6% in January-another healthy sign about the market Yun points to.

With rates on mortgages staying low, Yun expects more home buyers and sellers this spring. Thus far this year, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has fallen to under a 4.5% average. Meaning a normal home buyer could save nearly $100 each month a result of the drop. Additionally, wages are up 3.4% year-over-year on average, the hightest rate in a decade, .

“The slump is over” in the housing market, Yun notes. “Better times are ahead for home buyers.”

Ready to find your new home here in the Tampa Bay and Surrounding Areas? Nick, Cindy & Nicholas Davis with RE/MAX Premier Group are here to assist you with all your Real Estate Needs. We are always available at 813-300-7116 to answer your questions or you can simply click here and we will be in touch with you shortly.

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