Bonita Bay News

Good news for sellers for the upcoming winter season! The Naples Area Board of Realtors has predicted a buyers rush to luxury homes in the coming winter months! If you’re thinking of listing your home for sale, why not list now so buyers will have a first look right after the holidays?

On the buying side, there are many wonderful properties on the market with more to come in January 2015, which is when we’ll see an influx of new active listings! However, the average home price is rising, so make your offer now or you may lose out on your first choice!

So where are we headed in 2015?

When 2014 started, there were many predictions made regarding mortgage rates, home values and home sales. The following is an interesting synopsis by Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac chief economist, of what actually happened and where we may be going this year.

Mortgage Rates: As we enterted 2014, mortgage rates had been inching higher and were expected to continue to gradually rise throughout the year.

What happened? Quite the opposite. Mortgage rates generally moved lower during the course of 2014 reaching a calender-year low for fixed rate loans in early December. Fixed rates are lower than they were a year ago.

2015 Freddie Mac Crystal Ball Prediction: Economic growth will be about 3% in 2015. This pace should generate more jobs and we project that household incomes will rise as will housing starts and home sales. We project home sales up about 4% in the coming year, placing sales volume at the highest level in eight years. The Federal Reserve will likely allow long-term rates to drift higher, especially in the second half of the year, but with fixed-rate mortgages remaining below 5%.

Home Values: The considerable gains of household-income growth we saw in 2013 were unlikely to continue and Freddie Mac expected a significant slowdown in value gains for 2014.

What happened? Nationally home value increases did continue but at a more moderate clip. Between Sept. 2013 and Sept. 2014 the FMHPI continued to rise but at a more modest 5%.

2015 Freddie Mac Crystal Ball Prediction: We expect further moderation in the national growth, to about 3%.

Home Sales: The consensus view for 2014 was a gain in home sales with some expecting sales to rise from 5.5 million in 2013 to over 6 million in 2014. Freddie Mac forecasted an increase to 5.9 million in 2014. The consistent theme was faster economic growth in 2014 would support increased household income, push consumer and business confidence up, and translate to more home sales.

What happened? Many things conspired at the end of 2013 to deflate home sales, but by the second half of 2014 home buying had recovered. Over the second and third quarter of 2014 the economy grew at better than a 4% annualized pace and we believe it is well poised to expand close to a 3% pace in 2015. Growth at this level will raise household income and support more home sales.

2015 Freddie Mac Crystal Ball Prediction: We are projecting a 4% rise in sales to 5.6 million, which would mark the highest level of annual sales since 2007.

Whether you are buying or selling, if you are looking for Realtor representation, think of me.