Consumers are beginning to respond to more favorable housing market conditions, with existing home sales expected to steadily increase into 2008, according to the latest forecast by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.
“After reaching what appears to be the bottom in the fourth quarter of 2006, we expect existing-home sales to gradually rise all this year and well into 2008,” says David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist. Existing-home sales, which reached the third-highest total on record of 6.48 million in 2006, are forecast at 6.44 million in 2007 and 6.64 million in 2008. New construction, on the other hand, will take longer to recover. Following a fourth-best 1.06 million in 2006, new-home sales projected to decline to 961,000 this year and then rise to 971,000 in 2008. “We look for that sector to turn around later in the year,” Lereah adds. Among the other key highlights of NAR’s new forecast: (read more)