After the last crash of 2008 the housing market went into freefall for several years. There were often whole streets that were vacant and then repurchased for sometimes 60-70% less than they had previously sold. So with all that extra inventory builders were not quick to jump back in to building new homes in the early 2010’s. Also factor in zoning regulations, a move to be more conscious of urban sprawl and supply chain issues and you have a recipe that has created a housing shortage in many parts of the country. Note that in the 1980’s and 90’s we regularly saw around 1.5M homes built per year. Through most of the 2010’s we saw somewhere closer to 1.0M. That is a large difference. Now with rates rising people do not want to sell their home unless they have to. So the number of listings has dropped dramatically for the last 18 months. Most builders are now slowing the number of housing starts so there does not seem to be an end in sight.
Happy New Year
This ought to be an interesting year in the world of Real Estate. So many major media outlets are predicting a recession and severe drop in housing prices. I am not so sure on the last one. Call me skeptical but when the employment situation is the way it is and people are still working I am not sure housing will decline significantly. Sure a correction is due based on historical trends but that does not necessarily mean a a large drop in prices. I would love to see more inventory available due to our shortage here in Western MT. We shall see what the year holds.