Posted on Feb. 10th, 2015
Nine years after the housing bubble peaked and three years after home prices bottomed, the boom and bust still cast a long shadow. However, the housing market has already endured so much in the past year from the fluctuations that occurred before. But even then, the effects are still present and felt by consumers. All these, including the expected break in the strong economy and household formation will significantly affect the slower recovery this year, 2015. However, many consumers are still feeling optimistic based on the survey conducted last November 6 to 10, 2014. That is because they are still expecting that 2015 will be a better year for them, especially in selling a residential property. It is just a wonder if it is the same case in the Boston real estate market.
Consumer’s Expectation in the Housing Market this 2015
Consumers are feeling optimistic ever since the market started experienced some recovery. In fact, in a survey conducted, 74% of the respondents approved that owning a home was part of their personal ‘American Dream’. The percentage is even slightly higher than the past 3 years. The same dream was even revived within the young adult group.
Added to this, many of today’s young renters are also planning to purchase their own house someday. This particular information remained unchanged beginning 2012 even if the housing market was not at its best condition at the time.
The survey also showed that if there is a real estate activity that will be further improved this year, it would be in the selling department. 36% of the respondents also believed that year 2015 will be quite better compared to 2014 when it comes to home selling. 16% of the respondents answered and expected that 2015 will become much worse. Even with that as the case, there are still many consumers who agreed that 2015 will also be better in the buying department.
But even with this optimism from consumers, there are still a lot of barriers that will prevent them from owning a home. It includes the ability to save for a down payment, which still stayed as the top on the list in the previous year. There’s also the lack of a stable job, which dropped from 36% to 24% in 2015. Some of the respondents also indicated that the increasing price of homes will also become a barrier to owning a home. Based on the news reported regarding Boston real estate market, it is also experiencing some difficulty in the housing market. The good thing is there are some improvements that are taking place in the city’s condo market.
The Fading Rebound Effect
The housing market in the country may be experiencing recovery already. It is also expected that the rebound effect will gradually start fading this year. However, this rebound effect will be replaced with something else. This is where the tricky handoff will enter now. It only means that there is a big possibility for 2015’s housing activity to be disappointing at some point even if the rental market stays strong.
There is already a list of things that consumers can expect to happen this year in the housing market. The top on the list is slow gain in pricing while affordability gets worse. It is also expected that the rental market will truly stay strong. Single family home projects will begin, but sales of new homes could be disappointing.
These are just some of the things that were predicted to take place in 2015. If this happens, it should be expected that the recovery will be slower even if the rebound effect starts fading. The same thing might also be expected in the Massachusetts real estate market.