Housing Market to Continue Challenging Buyers in 2019: Realtor.com

By Kelsey Ramirez

Buying and selling a home is about to get a lot more difficult in 2019, or so says one expert in her forecast for next year.

Realtor.com explained that rising interest rates and home prices will overshadow any inventory increases in the year to come. In fact, affordability is set to worsen, making it more difficult to buy or sell a home in 2019.

The forecast predicts mortgage interest rates will average 5.3% and hit 5.5% by the end of 2019. That would make the average home purchase 8% more expensive per month than in 2018.

Home price growth is also expected to continue, rising slowly at a rate of 2.2% over the year. Inventory increases will also remain moderate with a less than 7% projected increase. The result will be a 2% decline in home sales, realtor.com predicted.

“Inventory will continue to increase next year, but unless there is a major shift in the economic trajectory, we don’t expect a buyer's market on the horizon within the next five years,” realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said.

“Unfortunately for buyers, it’s only going to get more costly to buy, especially the most-demanded entry level real estate,” Hale said. “To be successful, buyers should think through how they’ll adapt to higher rates and prices.”

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