Four Real Estate Market Trends for 2019 That Everyone Should Note

As we embark on the new year of 2019 we can all speculate on what will transpire in the real estate market. While we cannot predict what will happen, we can however get a sense of what is in store based on a few factors. The economic research team at Realtor.com has recently analyzed data in order to best forecast things for the year. Based on their findings it appears as both buyers and sellers will each face some challenges. Here are the top 4 things that were noteworthy.

Luxury Inventory Will Increase

The trend for inventory has been showing slim for years now. While homes have been coming on the market intermittently, not enough have been listed to keep up with buyer demand. In 2018 we did see inventory slightly increasing and it is expected that this will continue into 2019, but probably still at a low rate of growth.

“More inventory for sellers means it’s not going to be as easy as it has been in past years—it means they will have to think about the competition,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com’s chief economist.

Home Affordability Challenges

Buyers have had their challenges of limited stock to choose from coupled with rising prices, but will this change much?

“In some ways, life is going to be easier for home buyers; they’ll have more options,” Hale says. “But life is also going to be more difficult for home buyers, because we expect mortgage rates to continue to increase, we expect home prices to continue to increase, so the pinch that they’re feeling from affordability is going to continue to be a pain point moving into 2019.”

Millennials Will Dominate Buyer Pool

These buyers are among the largest group of buyers out there and are accounting for 45% of mortgages according to Realtor.com. Some are first time buyers while others are already trading up to larger homes. The year 2020 is going to be the peak year for millennial home buying as the majority of them will be 30 years old.

New Tax Law

As far as the revision of tax code goes, the jury is out on that still.

“I think the new tax plan will affect mostly homeowners and home buyers in the upper parts of the distribution,” says Andrew Hanson, associate professor of economics at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. “Those who either own or are buying higher-priced homes are going to pay a lot more.”

Hanson also predicts that the biggest change here will be in mortgages where people will be less likely to take out larger ones. More revelations will become apparent after April 2019 where most will have completed their tax returns.