Economists expect the construction of single-family houses to increase in 2018. The median estimate has single-family housing starts rising about 8 percent, roughly 912,500 new houses.
More construction is likely to lead to slower home-price appreciation. From 2016-2017, the Federal Housing Finance Agency says home prices rose over 6 percent. In 2018, experts predict a 4.1 percent increase nationally, NerdWallet reports. CoreLogic's chief economist Frank Nothaft points out another important trend, saying, “Mortgage rates will be at the highest level since 2011. Going forward, this era of cheap mortgage rates will largely be behind us.”
Lawmakers were still working on tax reform as this article was being written. Preliminary House and Senate versions limited the number of home sellers who would benefit from the home capital gains exclusion, and they treated the mortgage interest tax deduction differently. It’s too early to know how a final tax reform bill would affect home buyers and homeowners, but we will keep you posted.
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