During the fourth quarter of last year, some housing experts projected home prices were going to crash in 2023. The media ran with those forecasts and put out headlines calling for doom and gloom in the housing market. All of this negative news coverage made a lot of people have doubts about the strength of the residential real estate market.If it made you question if you should delay your own plans to move, here’s what you really need to know.Home Prices Never CrashedDisregard what you saw in the headlines. The actual data shows home prices were remarkably resilient and performed far better than the media would have you believe (see graph below):This graph uses reports from three trusted sources to clearly illustrate prices have already rebounded after experiencing only slight declines nationally. That’s a far cry from the crash so many articles called for.The declines that did happen (shown in red), weren’t drastic but were short-lived. As Nicole Friedman, a reporter at the Wall … Continue reading...
Unpacking the Long-Term Benefits of Homeownership
If you’re thinking about buying a home soon, higher mortgage rates, rising home prices, and ongoing affordability concerns may make you wonder if it still makes sense to buy a home right now. While those market factors are important, there's more to consider. You should think about the long-term benefits of homeownership too.Think about this: if you know people who bought a home 5, 10, or even 30 years ago, you’re probably going to have a hard time finding someone who regrets their decision. Why is that? The reason is tied to how home values grow with time and how, by extension, that grows your own wealth. That may be why, in a recent Fannie Mae survey, 76% of respondents say they believe buying a home is a safe investment.Here’s a look at how just the home price appreciation piece can really add up over the years.Home Price Growth over TimeThe map below uses data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to show just how noteworthy price gains have been over the last five years. … Continue reading...