Source: The Ascent —
There’s a reason it’s been a major struggle for home buyers — particularly first timers — to break into the real estate market. Housing inventory has lacked in a serious way, and any time there’s more demand than there is supply of a given commodity, its price has a tendency to rise. That explains why home prices have soared over the past couple of years — and why homeowners and sellers don’t need to worry so much about falling home prices in 2023.
We’re not headed into another housing market crash
Some people hear the words “falling home prices” and immediately associate them with the housing market crash of 2008. Back then, countless U.S. homeowners wound up underwater on their mortgages (which happens when a home’s value isn’t high enough to pay off its mortgage balance) as housing prices plunged.
But while home prices could fall in 2023, that doesn’t mean homeowners and potential sellers need to panic. For one thing, home prices aren’t guaranteed to fall, and in late August, Goldman Sachs economists predicted that home prices will experience 0% growth in 2023. But 0% growth means just that — no growth. It doesn’t mean a plunge.
