The Housing Market is the Next Economic Hero
Bob Sillick, senior researcher, report writer and content manager
Throughout the inflationary period and into the 2023 holiday shopping season, consumers have been the heroes of the economy. Their willingness to spend and endure higher interest rates has been critical to improvements in the economic forecast for 2024. Consumers will always be the economic heroes, however, next year and into 2025, it’s the housing market’s turn to drive the economy forward. When Americans are selling and buying more homes a long list of retail verticals prosper: home improvements, furniture, flooring, appliances, etc.
There are many good signs about the housing market:
- As of the week of 12/11/23, daily average mortgage rates were less than 7% since July at 6.82% and the lowest rates since May.
- The average monthly mortgage payment of $2,503 was $233 less than October’s which set a record.
- Mortgage-purchase applications increased 19% from the beginning of November when they were the lowest in three decades.
- The National Association of REALTORS forecasts 4.71 million existing homes will be sold during 2024, a 13.5% increase from the projected total for 2023 of 4.1 million.
According to Bank of America’s 2023 Homebuyer Insights Report, 62% of prospective homebuyers surveyed during October said they anticipate home prices and mortgage rates to decrease so they are more inclined to become active buyers. The April survey found 85% of surveyed homebuyers were waiting for the market to stabilize.
The survey for the report also revealed that 54% of current homeowners would decide to move and buy a home if they “found a more affordable area” and 50% if their dream home was available. “More job opportunities” is what motivated more than half (57%) of current homeowners to move to another state or who already have.
All these trends indicate local media and their sales reps should be preparing now for 2024 when homebuilders, real estate brokers and many retail verticals will be eager to advertise to reach the home seller and buyer audience. Make multiple visits to Media Group Online’s Co-op Directory as part of your preparations. As the housing market improves, more manufacturers are likely to offer new co-op programs.
