I host an open house almost every weekend. The one question I get consistently is: “how is the market?”
The local real estate industry is forecasting a 15%+ increase in overall sales volume for 2011 over 2010. I have a friend in the mortgage banking business that is forecasting a 20% increase. I anticipate that prices will remain mostly flat/stable with a 1-3% plus or minus variation depending on specific market areas, the rate of continued momentum in the economic recovery and other variables such as the Euro’s handling of its debt crisis. Overall, we expect an improved market in 2011.
On a national level, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Chief Economist Lawrence Yun is forecasting 5.2 million existing-home sales in 2011, up from 4.8 million last year. He also expects modest improvement in prices—a rise of about 1 percent this year on a national basis. That would be the first in what Yun says will be a series of small but steady gains in the years ahead that will eventually bring home sales back to a period of normalcy.
On the State level California Association of Realtors Economist Leslie Appleton-Young forecasts “home prices will rise 2 percent this year.” She goes on to state “there is little chance of home prices returning to their previous peak levels anytime soon. “We are in a slow-moving recovery with prices stabilized at the moderate and low-end.”
I also want to take this opportunity to thank you for referring your friends and family to me whenever they are in the market to sell or buy a home. You can be assured that I will work hard and treat them with the utmost care and professionalism.
