Navigating the 2024 housing market
realtor.com's Danielle Hale joins TheStreet to discuss what headwinds remain for those trying to buy a house in 2024.
Transcript
00:00 How about some of the other big headwinds that you are forecasting for the overall real
00:04 estate market in 2024?
00:06 Yeah, so the big improvement is that affordability is going to start to improve.
00:11 So that's, that's I think a positive for buyers.
00:13 But as far as a headwind, even though we're starting to see an improvement in affordability,
00:17 it's still going to remain relatively expensive to buy a home.
00:21 Mortgage rates are expected to come down and home prices are expected to fall a little
00:24 bit nationwide.
00:26 But in some markets, home prices may even increase.
00:29 So it's really going to be market by market for home shoppers in the market next year
00:33 as far as whether or not they are going to see that improvement in affordability driven
00:37 by price or whether it will be driven by mortgage rates declining alone.
00:41 Another potential positive for homebuyers is that incomes are expected to increase and
00:45 with inflation easing, buyers and consumers will see real income growth in 2024 for the
00:52 first time in a long time.
00:53 So that's going to be a nice positive for the market as well.
00:56 Right here, Danielle, what sort of advice would you give to homebuyers who are preparing
01:00 to navigate the challenges of the real estate market in the new year based on all of your
01:05 insights and all of your predictions?
01:07 Yeah, so homebuyers thinking about navigating the homebuying market in 2024 should know
01:12 that prices remain relatively high.
01:14 And even though mortgage rates have come down, they still also are relatively high.
01:17 So buying a home continues to be a costly undertaking.
01:21 But that affordability picture is starting to improve.
01:23 I think it's important as they get into the housing market to really be focused on their
01:27 financial situation, be prepared on their budget, and make sure that as they're looking,
01:32 they know what they have to have in a home, what's nice to have so they can make trade-offs
01:36 and not get carried away.
01:38 It's important to stick to a budget.
01:40 Even though affordability is improving, the costs are quite high.
01:44 And so we want to make sure that homebuyers are setting themselves up for a sustainable
01:47 situation and not stretching their budget, which can be an easy thing to do when the
01:52 market pricing is high as it is today.
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