Tight inventory, combined with pent-up demand, kept prices in an uptrend last year despite 23-year-high mortgage rates, according to Selma Hepp, CoreLogic's chief economist.
AdvertisementCooling mortgage rates and newly built homes will help bring more houses on the market but won't create enough inventory to outpace demand, wrote Hepp.
She isn't expecting much change to mortgage rates but said that they will likely be slightly higher from January to February, in line with historical trends that precede the busy spring sales season.
If inflation remains tamed and trending downward, and the Federal Reserve begins cutting rates as a response, declining mortgage rates would follow, she added in an email to Business Insider.
Metro area Forecasted YOY % change Redding CA Metropolitan Statistical Area 7.30% Santa Maria-Santa Barbara CA Metropolitan Statistical Area 6.81% Bremerton-Silverdale WA Metropolitan Statistical Area 6.51% Coeur d'Alene ID Metropolitan Statistical Area 6.49% Fairbanks AK Metropolitan Statistical Area 6.38% Santa Rosa CA Metropolitan Statistical Area 6.37% Corvallis OR Metropolitan Statistical Area 6.36% Merced CA Metropolitan Statistical Area 6.32% Bend-Redmond OR Metropolitan Statistical Area 6.29% Mount Vernon-Anacortes WA Metropolitan Statistical Area 6.20% Grand Junction CO Metropolitan Statistical Area 6.09% Longview WA Metropolitan Statistical Area 6.07% Pocatello ID Metropolitan Statistical Area 6.00% Casper WY Metropolitan Statistical Area 5.99% Walla Walla WA Metropolitan Statistical Area 5.88% Lewiston ID-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area 5.87% Santa Cruz-Watsonville CA Metropolitan Statistical Area 5.81% Prescott AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area 5.70% Lakeland-Winter Haven FL Metropolitan Statistical Area 5.67% Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina HI Metropolitan Statistical Area 5.63%The list below is CoreLogic's forecast for the five metro areas that are at the highest risk of price declines.
Persons:
—, Selma Hepp, it's, Hepp, isn't
Organizations:
Service, Business, Federal Reserve, Redding, Santa Barbara, Metropolitan, Silverdale WA Metropolitan, Coeur, Fairbanks AK Metropolitan Statistical, Santa, Corvallis, Longview, Longview WA Metropolitan, Casper, Casper WY Metropolitan, Walla Walla WA Metropolitan, Lewiston, Prescott, Prescott AZ Metropolitan, Lakeland
Locations:
Metro, Maria, Santa, Bremerton, Silverdale WA, Coeur d'Alene, Santa Rosa, Merced CA, Redmond, Vernon, Anacortes WA, Longview WA, Pocatello, Casper WY, Walla Walla WA, Santa Cruz, Watsonville CA, Prescott AZ, Haven, Lahaina HI