Realtor.com's Errol Samuelson, Mark Fleming of CoreLogic (CLGX), Jed Kolko at Trulia (TRLA) and Daren Blomquist of RealtyTrac sit down to discuss what they expect from housing in the second half of 2013.
Morgan Brennan at Forbes provides a more in depth look, asking if a 12% jump in home prices should cause us worry about another bubble:
The last time prices appreciated by double digits were during the last housing bubble, motivating to question whether a new bubble is beginning to inflate.
It isn’t. The current pace of growth, while certainly unsustainable for long term market health, is nothing to worry about just yet. “Prices are now rising as fast as they were during the bubble years, but they are still low relative to the levels where they were back then,” explains Jed Kolko.
More homes are coming to the market, too, Brennan writes. It's a view that Realtor.com's Samuelson supports, at least:
“We think inventory levels on a year-over-year basis will probably flatten out by the end of this year. That will be the first time since 2007,” says Errol Samuelson, president of Realtor.com. “I think you are actually going to see inventory growth on a year-on-year basis starting in the fall, but prices nonetheless will continue to appreciate.”
And, of course, everyone expects mortgage rates to keep on rising — though higher mortgage rates are not expected to be a horrible thing.
“Our estimation is it would take a 6.5% interest rate to bring affordability just back up to the level of early 2000s, [meaning] neither too affordable nor unaffordable,” adds CoreLogic’s Fleming. “There’s plenty of room for appreciation and rate increases before that and we will probably get a little of both.”
