Housing, in particular, is full of much tracked data, data which is often forecasted four to six quarters into the future. Things like housing starts–the number of homes that have begun to be built in a certain timeframe, new home sales–the number of never-before-occupied homes that have sold, existing home sales–the number of re-sold homes, and mortgage rates are analyzed and based on past and potential future performance then shown to the world. Here’s a quick roundup of the most popular 2014 housing market predictions.

CONSTRUCTION IS BACK.

Building activity has been depressed with too many existing homes on the market, “household formation” down, and builders having a harder time obtaining financing. The long-term average for housing starts is 1.5 million units a year. In 2013, it was only 600,000.

 

HOME PRICES WILL RISE 3 PERCENT.

According to Zillow, home prices will only rise 3 percent in 2014. They attribute this to higher mortgage rates, more expensive home prices pushing some buyers out of the market, and a greater supply of homes due to less homes being underwater and more new construction.

 

INTEREST RATES WILL BE AROUND 5 PERCENT BY YEARS’ END.

Remember a couple months ago when we talked about the Fed tapering their bond purchasing? Well, it’s probably going to keep going down, which means interest rates will likely slowly rise through the year. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, thinks they’ll hit 5.4 percent by the end of 2014.

 

MORE HOUSEHOLDS WILL HIT THE MARKET.

When the economy slows and family breadwinners lose their bread, you see households merging together; parents move in with grandparents, young adults move in with mom and dad. When this happens, the number of households decreases. Typically 1.1 million new households are created each year. This number more than halved from 2008 to 2011, when only 450,000 new households were created annually. The decrease in unemployment for younger people and other positive market factors should help increase household growth through 2014.

Nice newsletter. Good article. Good information. Thank you. Carol

For conventional financing, borrowers with scores at 740 or anywhere above generally receive the same loan pricing (rate and cost). That being said, the better your credit the higher your chances of receiving loan approval with high debt to income (up to 50%) or high loan to value (up to 95%) which can be a major benefit when applying for a new loan. For Jumbo financing, borrowers with credit scores above 800 are generally rewarded with both better pricing and easier guidelines. There are no situations where better credit is a negative when obtaining new financing so we should all continue to strive to reach and then stay in the 800’s.

What are the advantages of a score over 800

Thank you Mike for this information. As a residential realtor the information that you provide is crucial to a successful transaction for my clients. You are indeed a pleasure to recommend to all of my clients. You are so professional, thorough, conscientious and pleasant to work with. !!

Hi Dane! Wanted to make sure I'm clear on this. Am I right in saying that on whichever remodel is done you still take a loss rather than an increase in value - the ROI will never exceed 100% of cost?