Like elsewhere in the country, housing is a hot priority right now in Colorado. Supplies are tight, prices are higher than in previous years, and mortgage rates have begun to rise. No surprise then, 2023 has been a hard year compared to previous market periods 5 years earlier. Many are hoping and expecting a market change, but there has been a strong fear that the market will continue to become harder to find housing in 2024. So, when Realtor.com put out their recent report for the new year’s forecast, the idea that market affordability was going to return was a huge surprise.
A Change in Direction
The amount of decrease in cost is not a huge jump, but it is a movement expected to go in the right direction. Median house prices are expected to improve by 1.7 percent in the new year. This is a nationwide adjustment. However, for Colorado in particular, the same report expects as much as over 5 percent reduction in the state’s home listings. Not all Colorado counties will be the same; Colorado Springs will be lower, under 2 percent estimated in the same report.
By the end of 2024 the full drop is also expected to push the mortgage rate down again to a more affordable 6.5 percent from the rising position right now. But it will generally be about 6.8 percent for most of the first year. It’s still higher than before 2020, which was generally at about 4 percent, but it’s an improvement.
What it Means for the Average Wallet
Every half percent of mortgage rate improvement means thousands of dollars in savings for Colorado homebuyers. There is no guarantee that these figures will all work out exactly as predicted, but the news is incredibly uplifting for the homebuying market after much of the beating that homebuyers took in 2021 and 2022.
Finding Buying Ability Again
Across the country, market after market has been closed up by rising prices and rising mortgage rates. The resounding chorus has been people being priced out completely and unable to enter the housing market at all. The data being predicted for the next year is the kind of information that can generate home sales again, both for buyers and sellers as the market finds its balance again. Find out more at Rob’s Mortgage Loans (https://robsmortgageloans.com/).
The Colorado housing market isn’t going to turn amazing overnight. Improvement is likely going to take a handful of years. However, even the housing market is subject to the rules of supply and demand. And when demand falls, sales drop too.
