Is 2024 a good year to buy a home?

Housing economists offering forecasts were wrong about 2023.

Housing economists offering forecasts were wrong about 2023. Few thought home sales would fall off a cliff the way they did this year, dropping by about 17% from their high in February to their low in October, according to the National Association of Realtors. Most thought home prices wouldn’t increase by much. Yet prices hit record highs this year, climbing 7% since the beginning of the year and are now 1% higher than at the peak in 2022, according to Case Shiller. And virtually no one saw mortgage rates of nearly 8% coming. When the average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage hit 7.79% at the end of October, according to Freddie Mac, it was the highest level in 23 years. It all combined to create the least affordable housing market in a generation. Sales of existing homes dipped below 4 million units, reaching levels last seen in 2010. But still, even with fewer buyers, home prices kept climbing because there weren’t enough homes on the market and competition pushed prices higher. Will this picture improve in 2024? What should homebuyers expect next year?