5 Housing Trends In Spring 2012

Homebuyers are expected to get off the fence

Homebuyers are expected to get off the fence

Homebuyers waiting for prices to hit bottom may soon get off the sidelines, industry experts say.
We're starting to pick up on the purchase side. I don't think you'll go back to (the home purchase activity we had in) '06 anytime soon, but this is the best that we have seen in a while.
The price gap is closing between what sellers expect to get for their homes and what buyers pay. That's one reason home sales are improving.
As consumer confidence and rents rise, more renters will want to become homeowners, Smith says.
The trend already has started, according to a recent study by Kingsley Associates, a San Francisco-based real estate research and consulting firm. About 59.5 percent of the tenants surveyed in the study said they intend to renew their leases this year. That is the lowest rate since early 2009 on renters' intention to renew leases. The rate was 63.7 in the fourth quarter of 2010.
We still have a slow recovery, but I think we'll start to see additional sales.