HomeLight recently surveyed over a thousand top real estate agents nationwide to get their read on the 2023 market. The results of the HomeLight New Year 2023 Top Agent Insights Survey<\/a> show that over 45% of agents predict a more balanced market, and 34% predict a buyer\u2019s market.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re hoping for better luck buying a house in 2023, read on to find out if you\u2019ll be facing sunny days or storm clouds.<\/p>\n \n\n\n\n\n HomeLight-recommended real estate agents are top-tier negotiators who understand the market data that helps you save as much as possible when buying your dream home.<\/p>\n \n Homebuyers in 2023 can expect a much easier market than the last few years. While some trends \u2014 such as inflation and higher interest rates \u2014 point negative, in general, there\u2019s a more positive picture if you\u2019re shopping for a home.<\/p>\n Home sellers had the advantage in the last two years \u2014 high demand, low interest rates, and low inventory led to a market that could only be described as hot as an August day in Miami. But things are shifting. In 2023, 44.83% of agents predict a balanced market, 33.82% foresee a buyer\u2019s market, and only 11.70% of agents predict a seller\u2019s market.<\/p>\n Christina Skurat is a real estate agent serving on the top-performing Kerby Skurat team<\/a> in Plymouth, Minnesota. In her market, \u201cthere\u2019s a trending back toward more of a sense of the world being more normal and stable.\u201d Recently, it now takes three to four months for the average home to sell<\/a>, which is a massive shift. Buyers won\u2019t feel as pressured to see a home once and rush to make a decision in one weekend. They can shop around a bit more and still find a house.<\/p>\n Home prices started dropping in July of 2022. While the decrease was small \u2014 just 1.6% between July and August<\/a> \u2014 experts are predicting a decline of 8-10% by August 2023. Higher-priced and luxury homes have seen sharper drops in prices, as buyers of these homes often don\u2019t qualify for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgages<\/a>.<\/p>\n In March 2022, the Federal Reserve approved the first rate hike since 2018<\/a>. The Fed Funds rate is the interest rate charged to banks when they borrow from the Federal Reserve. When they pay more for capital, they pass it along by raising the interest rates paid by consumers.<\/p>\n Recent interest rate increases led to a decrease in home prices \u2014 many buyers don\u2019t want to pay more for their mortgage. If that was you, there\u2019s good news. Experts predict a drop in mortgage rates<\/a>, most likely during the latter half of the year<\/a>. Skurat says that while buyers are \u201creally tracking rates and responding emotionally to them\u201d at the moment, she expects rates to go down a bit more next year and get closer to 2019 levels.<\/p>\n Low inventory contributed to the seller\u2019s market<\/a> of 2020 through 2022. Think about it \u2014 if you have 50 buyers, but only 25 homes for sale, those buyers will compete, and prices will rise. But our agents predict a better situation in 2023.<\/p>\n Over 50% of agents say that inventory is already increasing in their market, and survey respondents think that buyers will have 11% more homes to choose from in six months. In October 2022, the National Association of Realtors said that inventory was up 0.9 months from October 2021<\/a>. This measures how quickly all homes on the market would sell at the current sales rate. A higher number equates to more inventory, which benefits buyers.<\/p>\n With more inventory to choose from, bidding wars are becoming less common. Skurat cautions that \u201chomes are still selling with multiple offers when priced attractively,\u201d but it\u2019s not at the same extremes. Bidding wars are starting to cool, say 83.14% of agents.<\/p>\n Homes are spending more time on the market before selling. This goes hand in hand with buyers having more time to tour homes, make decisions, and facing less competition. In August 2022, the median days on market was 14 days<\/a>, but by October that had risen to 21 days<\/a>.<\/p>\n Skurat thinks this is a positive trend. \u201cWhen you sit on the market buyers are looking at your home more logically \u2014 how can I negotiate on it? \u2014 rather than getting emotions involved when bidding,\u201d she tells sellers. As a buyer, you can make a more rational decision if you can take more time.<\/p>\n In addition, home sales fell 5.9%<\/a> from September to October, and 28.4% from one year ago.<\/p>\n Desperate buyers waived everything \u2014 including the kitchen sink \u2014 during the hot housing market. If they waived an appraisal contingency<\/a> and the home didn\u2019t appraise, they\u2019d have to make up the difference in cash. Home inspections were often either informational only or nonexistent.<\/p>\n If that made you understandably nervous and you didn\u2019t want to take those risks, you might have decided not to compete with these buyers. The good news is that contingencies are back on the table. In our survey, 77% of agents said that contingencies are coming back.<\/p>\n![\"homelight](\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\"){kind=logo}
\n <\/div>\n \n Save thousands when buying a home<\/h3>\n
Housing trends that will affect homebuyers in 2023<\/h2>\n
Buyers can expect a more balanced market compared to 2021 and 2022<\/h3>\n
Home prices are coming down (a bit)<\/h3>\n
Mortgage rates are expected to come down slowly<\/h3>\n
Inventory is on the rise<\/h3>\n
No more bidding wars!<\/h3>\n
Homes are taking longer to sell<\/h3>\n
Contingencies are coming back to the negotiation table<\/h3>\n