Mike Orr, director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice at the W. P. Carey School of Business, is kinda following my “boring market” theme.
“Price increases look tame over the last 12 months and even tamer if you examine just the last six months. There is no longer any real upward price momentum greater than the general level of inflation.” [My bolding.]
Here’s my take on the millennials problem that Mike explores below.
In fact, the amount of single-family-home sales dropped 5 percent from last October to this October. Activity from first-time home buyers has been unusually low, in part because some people had their credit badly damaged during the housing crash and also because millennials are waiting to enter the home market until later in life than previous generations. These are also reasons the rental market is strong. Rents have increased 3.7 percent over the last 12 months in the Phoenix area.
Mike concludes with a discussion of the new 3-percent down payment loans from Fannie and Freddie.
Some expect the coming introduction of conventional home loans with lower, 3-percent down payments next year to stimulate more interest, but Orr isn’t sure this will make a major dent. He anticipates small, incremental improvements. [My bolding.]
I haven’t figured out if the new 3-percent down loans will have a big impact on sales and prices. I guess I agree with Mike, “small, incremental improvements.”
Let me know what you think in the comments below.