Economists Bullish On Housing Recovery

Economists predict a steady housing recovery through 2016.
 
A quarterly survey of more than 100 economists shows growing optimism for the real estate market when it comes to housing prices. The majority of the economists surveyed say they expect home prices to steadily increase for the next four years. 
 
 
The economists surveyed expect home prices to rise 2.3 percent this year over the fourth-quarter of 2011, according to the survey conducted on behalf of Zillow. In 2013, they expect prices to rise 4.7 percent; 8 percent in 2014; 11.4 percent in 2015; and 15.2 percent in 2016.
 
 
"This is further evidence that we're seeing a true recovery in the housing market," says Stan Humphries, Zillow's chief economist. "Not since mid-2010—in the midst of the homebuyer tax credits—have we seen this group so bullish on housing. It's refreshing to see this optimism at a time when the market seems to be making an organic recovery, in the absence of an artificial stimulant like the tax credits."
 
Rising home prices haven’t deterred investors from the housing market, according to a new survey by real estate-centered companies BiggerPockets.com and Memphis Invest. In fact, nearly 40 percent of real estate investors say they plan to purchase more properties over the next 12 months than they did last year. Twenty-six percent say they plan to buy as many as they did last year, according to the survey.

Investors have made up a big part of the housing market in recent months. Investors bought 1.23 million homes last year—a nearly 65 percent increase over the 749,000 they purchased in 2010, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

"Though housing markets are changing across the nation, investors are still seeing great opportunities,” says Joshua Dorkin, CEO of BiggerPockets.com, a real estate investing social network. “Hundreds of thousands of foreclosures and short sales are coming to market and rents are continuing to improve in most markets, creating a positive environment for the nation's 28.1 million residential real estate investors. They will certainly continue to be major players in the nation's housing economy for the foreseeable future.”



Investors are also ready to take a bigger bite out of the market. A survey found investors spent $9.2 billion last year to rehabilitate the foreclosures they purchased.

The survey puts some hard numbers behind the contribution that investors are making toward not only improving neighborhoods and fighting blight, but also the toward driving the economy.  Investors are purchasing homes that in some cases sit for months and add a drag on local home prices.

This survey shows that those investors are driving their local economies by spending billions in repair costs with local electricians, plumbers, flooring companies and laborers just to name a few.
The survey also found that investors would buy even more homes if interest rates were even lower; there were additional tax incentives for purchasing, rehabbing and renovating investment properties and if lenders eliminated their limits on loan amounts.

That all being said, there has never been a better time to buy!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

TopLACondos is the #1 Real Estate website in Los Angeles!

Zillow Accuracy... Not Often The Case

Century Plaza Double Towers Comes Closer To Final Approval