Housing Prices on the Rise Again?

By Terry Roberts

The Home Loan Hub

Published Jan. 12, 2023 at 12:30pm

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Everyone would expect housing inventory to go up. Holidays are over, it’s January, it’s time for people to start listing their homes.  Not happening.  According to Housing Market, US housing inventory fell an additional 4% in one week since January 1st.  “Does that mean we are heading back to all-time lows in inventory again for 2023?”

We also assumed that not a lot of people are applying for loans, so that should keep prices from going up.  Wrong again.  According to Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), mortgage applications have INCREASED 1.2% from the previous week.

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If there’s not more inventory, prices will not go down.  In fact, they may go up.  Again. 

(Housing Inventory Down + Housing Demand Up = Home Prices Will Rise)

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What does this mean for you as an agent?  If you have listings, you might hold firm on your asking price.  If these trends continue and prices go up, you may sell without having to negotiate as much and your sellers will probably love you for it.

If you have clients searching for homes, it’s important to set expectations with them.  Letting them know that home prices may be back on the rise again and stress the importance that buying now at asking price or maybe even a bit under may be a savings compared to where home prices could be in the spring if inventory continues to dwindle.  If this is they case, your buyers will probably love you for it.

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Separate but related note, per my blog, about 10-year treasury yields, they’ve gone back down to around where they were in early December before rates went up again. 

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