'The new normal' according to C.A.R.'s chief economist

by Staff Writer
Sep 29
  • For 2017, C.A.R is predicting a 1.4 percent increase in existing-home sales and 4.3 percent increase in median home sales prices.
  • Overall inventory is at a 3.4 month supply, and it's tightest in the San Francisco Bay Area, which has a 2.4 month supply.
  • Boomers staying still, tightening inventory, lack of construction, rising unaffordability and economic and global unrest are expected to keep sales activity low in 2017.

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“This is the new normal,” said California Association of Realtors vice president and chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young as she presented the association’s 2017 housing market forecast today. According to the forecast, 2016 existing-home sales were strong at the beginning of the year but quickly slowed due to tight inventory and skyrocketing median existing-home sales prices, which blew past the last cyclical price peaks by as many as 38.9 percentage points in some regions.

Article image credited to aspen rock / Shutterstock.com