Don’t Wait To Sell Your HouseWe’re in the ultimate sellers’ market right now. If you’re a homeowner thinking about selling, you have a huge advantage in today’s housing
Are Home Prices Softening or Are They Falling?
Dated: December 13 2018
Views: 26
We are beginning to see reports that more housing inventory is coming to the market and that buyer demand may not be increasing at the same pace it did earlier this year. The result will be many headlines written to address the impact that these two situations will have on home values.
Many of these headline writers will confuse “softening home prices” with “falling home prices,” but there is a major difference between the two.
The data will begin to show that home values are not appreciating at the same levels as they had over the last several years (softening prices). This does NOT mean that prices are depreciating (falling prices).
Here is an example: Over the last several years, national home values increased by more than 6% annually. If you had a home worth $300,000 at the beginning of the year, it would be worth $318,000 by year’s end. If the appreciation rate “falls” to 4%, that $300,000 house would be worth $312,000 at the end of next year – a $6,000 difference.
The price of the home did not fall. It just didn’t increase at the level it had the previous year.
Appreciation rates are projected to end this year at approximately 5%, and then drop to somewhere between 4-5% next year. This drop in appreciation rate will cause home price increases to soften.
Again, this does not mean that home prices will depreciate, but instead that they will appreciate more slowly.
Bottom Line
Be careful when reading headlines that discuss home values. Some headline writers will be legitimately confused and will use the word falling in place of softening. Others will realize that the headline “Home Prices are Falling!” will get more clicks than “Home Prices are Softening” and will intentionally write the more compelling headline. Read the article. If the word depreciation is not mentioned, home values are not falling.
Carlos Cardenas
Real Estate Broker offering over 18 years of experience in the industry specializing in Commercial and Residential Real Estate in South Florida. Solid business background with experience in accounting....
Latest Blog Posts
Four Expert Views on the 2021 Housing MarketThe housing market was a shining star in 2020, fueling the economic turnaround throughout the country. As we look forward to 2021, can we expect real
2021 Housing Forecast [INFOGRAPHIC]Some HighlightsExperts project an optimistic year for the 2021 housing market.With mortgage rates forecasted to remain low, high buyer demand is expected to fuel
MIAMI ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. All properties are subject to prior sale, change or withdrawal. Neither listing broker(s) or information provider(s) shall be responsible for any typographical errors, misinformation, misprints and shall be held totally harmless. Listing(s) information is provided for consumer's personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested
The data relating to real estate for sale/lease on this web site come in part from a cooperative data exchange program of the multiple listing service (MLS) in which this real estate firm (Broker) participates. The data is provided exclusively for the user's personal non-commercial use, and may not be used for any purpose other than to indentify properties that the user may be interested in purchasing or leasing. The properties displayed may not be all of the properties in the MLS's database, or
