There are plenty of indications that the U.S. housing market is shifting downward, and
that the days of easy money in real estate are over.
On Jan. 10, the National Association of Realtors, a trade organization based in Washington, D.C., issued a forecast for 2006, saying that the housing market will "normalize" this year. For 2005, the nationwide appreciation rate for existing homes in the U.S. is pegged at around 13%. That's not expected to continue. NAR predicts that this year the housing market will stay strong, with the second-highest number of sales on record. But price appreciation will slow to just over 5%.
In several markets, brokers say that whereas sellers have been able to get what they ask, these days buyers have more room to negotiate and ask for concessions from sellers. It is a prooven trend that in most cities spring is the best time to sell a home but this does not prove true in all markets. A word of advice. If you are thinking of selling do not wait too long to list your home because the longer you wait in this market the more competition you will have.
1. While the markets are visibly slowing (homes are taking three weeks rather than three hours to sell), people must keep in mind that this article was written about the nationwide trend overall. Many markets such as the Phoenix Valley Metropolitan Area are still going to remain very strong. The Phoenix Valley still has several thousand people moving here on a weekly basis. The prices have significantly gone up in Arizona during the past two years, but prices are still far lower than that of the majority of markets that people are moving to here from. With the great weather here, the tech companies moving in and the Baby-boomers getting toward retirement age, the market should remain strong here and in the surrounding markets for quite some time.
Posted at 5:01PM on Mar 11th 2006 by RJ Paperman