The housing market is slowing down, and the housing boom could soon be over even in the most robust of housing markets such as Dallas, according to an article by Laura Kusisto for The Wall Street Journal.
Dallas has been climbing as one of America’s hottest markets, with some even speculating over whether it could be the next San Francisco with its hot real estate market and its high-ranked startup culture.
But now, the housing market is slowing down so much, in fact, that builders are offering crazy incentives such as giving agents the chance to win Louis Vuitton handbags or Super Bowl tickets with airfare, just to get their clients to buy the home, according to the article.
From the article:
Dallas, which had the second-strongest annual increase in employment of any metropolitan area in the country in September, helps explain why. Even though the economy in the sprawling metro area has boomed, home prices have grown much faster than wages, and buyers have been straining to afford homes.
Those price challenges have been masked in part by access to cheap credit, but that era is coming to an end. Since the beginning of the year, mortgage rates have risen about a percentage point, to the highest level since 2011.
But this situation isn’t about to get any easier. A recent forecast from realtor.com predicts buying and selling a home will become more difficult in 2019. Realtor.com explained that rising interest rates and home prices will overshadow any inventory increases in the year to come. In fact, affordability is set to worsen.
Freddie Mac also predicted a decrease in affordability in the year ahead. The GSE explained that if new home sales are to resume growth in 2019, builders may have to shift their focus to more modestly priced homes and smaller-sized homes to help offset housing affordability concerns.
