Doing It Again In 2010
What does 2010 hold in store for buyers, sellers and Realtors? I predict that it will be much the same as what we saw in 2009 here in the Twin Cities:
- Foreclosures will continue to come on the market and many will be scooped up quickly with multiple offers.
- The “next wave” of foreclosures won’t show up till AT LEAST July – and likely later than that since there has been no uptick in sheriff sales yet.
- Short sales will also continue coming on the market but we’ll see more of them successfully close. Some banks will learn how to get short sales done quickly but some will still take months to even reply.
- Mortgage rates will be in the 5% – 6%, with rates climbing as the year goes on.
- Mortgage underwriting standards will continue to tighten, meaning soon you will need to go through one of those airport naked-cam scanners to get approved for a loan, and then need to have your whole family go through one for a 2nd screening 2 days before closing.
- Median sales prices will remain flat or tick up slightly - foreclosure prices are at their bottom but short sales and traditional sellers will likely drop a little further but higher-priced homes will be selling in greater numbers, pushing the Median up.
- The $1M+ housing market will still be very slow and the $500k-$1M will only improve slightly – since jumbo mortgages are still tough to get these houses have fewer potential buyers.
- Total inventory on the market is likely to continue its 2009 fall (20% in 2009) – dropping to numbers we haven’t seen since 2005.
