When will home prices starting going down again?

[Anonymous]

Very little inventory, plenty of people looking for homes, high cost of building new and limited land all still point to no price drops in the near to midterm.

Long term, it is too hard to predict. A lot depends on if the office space real estate market crashes or not.

[Anonymous]

I think prices will go down in a decade or two due to demographic shifts. Not anytime soon. It's supply and demand. Demand is rising and supply is staying basically the same.

[Anonymous]

Just wait -- inflation came in higher than expected today (who knows if those rate cuts will still happen), looming bank failures due to commercial real estate exposure (NY Community Bank), and rumors of massive layoffs at big companies (https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1185623.page). Things might get choppy very soon.

[Anonymous]

Not in my lifetime.
Buy a house when you need to.

[Anonymous]

Depends where? Florida in flood zones, it will. In close in areas with no new building or inventory? Not for a long time.

[Anonymous]

They won't.

But, I do think they plateau for a while.

I honestly do think the most important thing for first time homebuyers or young homebuyers is to forget the idea of a "dream home" and just get your foot in the door.

That starter home that you're worried you'll outgrow will provide good equity for your next home when you actually do need the space

[Anonymous]

Agree with everyone they won't, at least in this area. Prices barely went down here in many areas in 2008. They may plateau at points but there is not likely to be a huge drop. When my parents were buying in the 80s there were people saying they were waiting for things to drop, people have always been waiting and it has never really happened. If it is your long term primary residence as others have said and you plan to get into the market in the next few years, just buy the home that works for your life and finances, and refinance when the opportunity comes. Waiting around here never seems to help anyone.

You can't time the market and home buying is more about a lifestyle choice than an investment anyways, from a financial perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They won't.

But, I do think they plateau for a while.

I honestly do think the most important thing for first time homebuyers or young homebuyers is to forget the idea of a "dream home" and just get your foot in the door.

That starter home that you're worried you'll outgrow will provide good equity for your next home when you actually do need the space

+1 especially in this area the name of the game is get in and then if you need to jump later, you do so or renovate/add on. The "jumping" has been harder recently because of interest rates but you still have options.

[Anonymous]

Shouldn't the same demographic cliff projected to hit colleges hit housing ~10-15 years later? I think that's coming up in a couple of years or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shouldn't the same demographic cliff projected to hit colleges hit housing ~10-15 years later? I think that's coming up in a couple of years or so.

What is the demographic cliff hitting colleges? sorry - no kids college age and haven't heard that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately the inventory problem is going to prop them up for a long while.

This is the answer. There just isn't enough supply to balance out demand. Prices here will decline either when builders can get ahead of demand (we're more than a decade away from that) or when enough people leave the area so that demand softens (if it didn't happen during Covid it won't happen anytime soon).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They won't.

But, I do think they plateau for a while.

I honestly do think the most important thing for first time homebuyers or young homebuyers is to forget the idea of a "dream home" and just get your foot in the door.

That starter home that you're worried you'll outgrow will provide good equity for your next home when you actually do need the space

Not sure this is such a great idea right now. The prices are not going up enough to compensate for transaction costs and interest payments. It will be hard to build significant equity in 5-10 years. You can currently rent for much less than you could purchase the same house. If I was not owning already I would rent and invest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They won't.

But, I do think they plateau for a while.

I honestly do think the most important thing for first time homebuyers or young homebuyers is to forget the idea of a "dream home" and just get your foot in the door.

That starter home that you're worried you'll outgrow will provide good equity for your next home when you actually do need the space

Not sure this is such a great idea right now. The prices are not going up enough to compensate for transaction costs and interest payments. It will be hard to build significant equity in 5-10 years. You can currently rent for much less than you could purchase the same house. If I was not owning already I would rent and invest.

Can you, though?

[Anonymous]

they wont, no end in sight in the lack of inventory

[Anonymous]

Prices in my area are going down. Average mortgage in my neighborhood is well north of $7k/month and you can rent for much less. Truly does not make sense to buy when the stock market is doing much better than real estate. Park your money elsewhere.