John Varano

Over the past decade, housing market conditions have changed dramatically. The housing crash and subsequent price rebound have caused a shift from buyer's to seller's market. Add to that lower-than-normal mortgage rates and a lack of for-sale inventory and prospective home buyers could be forgiven for not knowing what to expect when they head out to look for a home. Fortunately, however, Fannie Mae's most recent forecast from their Economic and Strategic Research Group contains some good news. That's because, though they expect continuing market challenges due to recent mortgage rate increases and too few homes for sale in the lower tier of the market, they do expect things to be better balanced in 2019. In fact, Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae's chief economist, says the market may be steadier than it has been. “We expect that existing and new home sales will stabilize in 2019 as home price appreciation moderates and mortgage rates begin to stabilize,” Duncan said. In other words, potential home buyers should expect less volatility next year, though they should still prepare for a competitive market.