No crash now --- but rapid growth coming

(Marco, “Housing Market Predictions 2022: Will it Crash This Year?,” pg online @ //um-ef)

Let us discuss the most talked-about housing market predictions for 2022. Here are some educated guesses as to what the future of the US housing market will look like based on what real estate pros are saying. The housing market has had an outstanding year, with record low-interest rates, the strongest yearly growth in single-family home prices and rentals, historically low foreclosure rates, and the highest number of home sales in 15 years. Will the housing market crash in 2022? The answer is that it will not crash. Most likely the housing market is expected to stay robust through 2022, with many of the trends that propelled real estate to new heights last year remaining firmly in place this year as well. Last year, homeowners saw a market in which their properties sold quickly and frequently above the asking prices, as numerous home buyers fought for the winning bid. The housing market is coming off a year in which home prices in the United States increased by an unsustainable 18.8%. Will the market continue to grow at this rate or will it be a little less frenetic this year? The housing market is even tighter now than it was prior to the spring 2021 housing frenzy. Even industry titans like Zillow increased their bullishness in January, increasing their projected home price growth rate for 2022 up to 16.4 percent. However, Zillow determined earlier this month that even that rate was too conservative. They now estimate the year-over-year rate to peak at 21.6 percent in May and then decline to 17.3 percent at the end of the year. According to another study by Zillow, the total value of private residential real estate in the United States increased by a record $6.9 trillion in 2021, to $43.4 trillion. Since the lows of the post-recession market and the corresponding building slump, the value of housing in the United States has more than doubled. The most expensive third of homes account for more than 60% of the total market value. The market value hit the $40 trillion mark in June of last year and since has been gaining an average of more than half a trillion dollars per month.