This is one crazy market that makes anyone who tries to guess its direction a gambler. The National Association of Realtors reported that prices for homes were going down for the last six to nine months and for each quarter they’ve been wrong. Even Zillow projected lower prices for the first six months of 2023. But it seems that Zillow is changing its perspective; they are projecting that home prices will increase by 5.8% in 2024.
They’re attributing this to the historic scarcity of inventory of existing homes for sale. In New Jersey inventories have fallen by up to 60% from 2018-2019. And one of the reasons that there is a shortage is due to Wall Street’s buying up many of the available properties and turning them into rentals. individual investors have also jumped into the market in early 2020 and 2021, taking advantage of the low mortgage rates and low prices.
Overall, the report from Zillow is that there will be a continued contraction of total sales of existing homes for 2023 and moving into 2024.
In general, homeownership is becoming a ever more expensive proposition: higher interest rates, higher property taxes, higher inflation, higher cost of building supplies, and a shortage of available buildable lots. In addition, there seems to be a surge in storage unit construction, which would otherwise be slated for new home construction.
If you have any questions about this information or title insurance, please contact Ralph Aponte: 732.914.1400.
Counsellors Title Agency, www.counsellorstitle.net, founded in 1996, is one of New Jersey’s most respected title agencies, serving all 21 New Jersey counties with title insurance, clearing title, escrow, tidelands searches, and closing and settlement services for commercial or industrial properties, waterfront properties and marinas, condominiums, townhouses or residential single-family homes. Counsellors Title also features its own Attorney Settlement Assistance Program™ [ASAP], which is an individual resource customized to fit the needs specifically of real estate attorneys, including, Documentation, Preparation, Disbursement of Funds, Attendance at Closing, HUD Preparation or Post-Closing Matters.
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