Now Trending…A Look at the Current State of the U.S. Housing Market

As the housing market continues to fluctuate, it can be a challenge to stay attuned to how it is impacting your relocation program. Fortunately, we can look at current U.S. housing trends along with other key factors, such as natural disaster events and market demographics, that we anticipate will impact the market. This helps us to understand what the current state of the market looks like and anticipate what is to come in the coming months and years ahead.

Based on these data points, here are three key trends that may impact your relocation program:

Recovery of the U.S. Housing Market
According to the U.S. Commerce Department New Housing Starts report January 2015 and National Association of Realtors’ Existing-Home Sales report January 2015,  several key housing metrics including existing home sales, new housing starts , and  the Case-Shiller Index  indicate that the housing market had cooled off in the last half of 2014 after coming off of a very robust growth period in 2013. Lack of quality inventory   along with rising home and rent prices that continue to outpace incomes   have been cited as major contributors for this slow down, according to Zillow Market Research Report February 2015. When looking forward, we find several indicators that suggest that as the job market and economy continue to improve, the housing market should continue to improve along with it.

Millennials
One market driver to keep an eye on is the millennial generation. The U.S. Census Bureau indicates that millennials are now the largest segment of our population.  Due to the great recession, we also know that there is abnormally high numbers of this generation who had to either move back in with family, or never got to leave in the first place. The U.S. Census Bureau and DB Market Research, expect that over the next 5 years as they reach their late 20 ’s  and early 30’s, they will be pretty likely to start renting or buying homes.

Boomerang Buyers
The market is also expecting a wave of boomerang buyers over the next 5 years  according to RealtyTrac . There were millions of homeowners that lost their homes during the market down turn. They have been unable to get approved for a home loan as a result of having a foreclosure or short sale appear on their credit report. However, once it has been three to five years after that event, they will now be able to once again get qualified for a loan.