More evidence that the housing market is in transition comes from USA Today today:
Denver epitomizes the slowdown taking hold this year in the nation's housing market as mortgage rates climb, home prices rise and the new tax law limits the benefits of ownership. Those hindrances are adding to a longer-standing obstacle to sales — low home supplies — and making the housing market across most of the country more favorable for buyers — if they can afford the added costs.
“Definitely, there is a shift in the market,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors (NAR). “Buyer activity appears to be softening ... Buyers have more chances.”
While housing is still largely a seller’s market, it’s becoming less so and the playing field should be roughly balanced between buyers and sellers by mid-next year, says Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist of research firm Veritas Urbis Economics.
