Americans Prepare for Higher Inflation but Decelerating Home Prices in 2022

A New York Fed Survey of Consumer Expectations published on Monday revealed that Americans are preparing for a 6% inflation rate in 2022, but many are lowering their expectations for housing prices. Before the pandemic, consumers forecast a 3% year-over-year price growth, but as lockdowns rolled in and the novel coronavirus and its variants did their damage, expectations quickly changed.

In October, Americans predicted that home prices would rise 5.6% in a year, and the latest November survey reveals slightly more optimistic expectations as prices slowly decelerate across the nation, according to MarketWatch. Last month, consumers forecast that median home prices would be 5% higher than they are now by November 2022.

Inflation is at a 40-year high, and Americans don’t expect any pocketbook relief in the next year with one notable exception: housing prices.

Americans think inflation will hover at 6% a year from now, according to the November New York Fed Survey of Consumer Expectations published Monday. That’s just 0.8 percentage points below the current annual rate of inflation according to the latest Consumer Price Index report.

But when it comes to home prices a year from now, Americans lowered their expectations.

“The decrease was driven by respondents without a college degree and was largest for those who live in the ‘South’ and ‘Northeast’ Census regions,” a statement on the report published by the New York Fed stated.

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