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More Sellers Than Buyers

More Sellers Than Buyers
Kerby Andersonnever miss viewpoints

I have two neighbors that illustrate what is happening and will continue to happen in the housing market. One neighbor just sold their house for a much lower price than anyone in the neighborhood would have expected. The other neighbor bought two homes and used them as rental properties. They now live in one of the homes. People living in the other rental home haven’t paid their rent in four months, and they had to go to court to evict them. They are beginning to reconsider whether rental properties were a good investment.

The U.S. housing market has nearly 500,000 more sellers than buyers. In case you are wondering, that is the most on record. In some locations like Miami, sellers outnumber buyers by roughly 3 to 1. It’s reasonable to assume that home prices will fall.

Another news report documents how many frustrated home sellers have decided to pull their property off the market. In fact, I might mention another neighbor whose home has been on the market so long, they will probably pull it off the market.

Three decades ago, I wrote a book of trends concerning baby boomers. One prediction I made was the possibility that home prices might drop. The baby boom was followed by a baby bust. There would be more sellers than buyers. The housing crisis of 2008 seemed to be a fulfillment of that.

But companies like Blackrock began buying homes as investments since they were appreciating assets. If the price of houses drops, they might not be such good investments in the future. That might put even more houses on the market.

If this happens, it might be good news for young people wanting to buy a home, but it would also be bad news for people or corporations who need to sell a house. viewpoints new web version

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