Fannie Mae’s Economic and Strategic Research Group releases a monthly outlook covering what the group believes is ahead for the economy and housing market. According to their most recent forecast, they see some improvement ahead for home buyers. In fact, the ESR group says they believe home sales will bottom out early next year before starting to climb again. The reason behind the rebound? Lower mortgage rates. “Housing has been and continues to be under serious affordability pressure, resulting in recessionary-level home sales activity,” Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s senior vice president and chief economist, said. “While many current owners with low mortgage rates will likely continue to be discouraged from listing their homes, we expect mortgage rates to trend modestly downward in 2024, which should help kickstart a gradual recovery in homes sales into 2024.” Fannie Mae also sees the new home market – both construction and sales – remaining resilient into the new year. (source)
