After years of doom and gloom, it seems like we've finally turned the corner in the market with almost every real estate related story now predicting a nationwide recovery.
Home sales are up, prices are up, new building starts are up, time on market is down, foreclosures - although still a significant concern - have slowed, interest rates are at historical lows, and perhaps most importantly, economists finally agree that the bottom is here.
One Hundred economists were recently polled as to their 4 year prediction for real estate. This is the result:
The average forecast shows real estate appreciating more than 15% over the next four years. The top quarter of economists predict a 24% rise in values while the lowest quarter predicts a 6% increase. Regardless of which economists were polled, the strong consensus was that we have bottomed out and a recovery is under way.
It seems like it was only yesterday that there seemed to be no end in sight to market declines. It is nice to finally see exclusively good news about the real estate market emerge.
Of course, I must temper the optimism with my "Crystal Ball" disclosure. No one can predict the future. But it sure is nice to see that after years of pessimistic predictions, we have now flipped to a more optimistic outlook.