New Year, Similar Market: Why 2020 May Be Another Rough One

Builder confidence is up, housing starts are projected to increase, and more entry-level homes will come to the market next year. But this will not be enough to keep up with demand as Millennials age into homebuying, according to CNBC, and Realtor.com’s predictions for 2020 are bleaker than one would hope for the new year. 

Home sales will drop, the housing shortage could become the worst in U.S. history, and home values will shrink in some cities. That’s the 2020 forecast from realtor.com, which holds one of the largest databases of housing statistics available.

Sales of existing homes will fall 1.8% from 2019, according to the forecast. Home prices will flatten nationally, increasing just 0.8% annually, but prices will fall in a quarter of the 100 largest metropolitan markets, including Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Miami, St. Louis, Detroit and San Francisco.

It is a seemingly contrary assessment, given the current strength of the economy and of homebuyer demand, but the dynamics of this housing market are unlike any other — the result of a housing crash unlike any other.

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