Over the past five years, the real estate market hasn’t seemed to move much at all, creating a unique type of discomfort for mortgage professionals, home buyers, investors, and especially real estate professionals. Can real estate agents recover from the stagnant state of the economy? Here are some things to consider:
News from a Credible Source
With over 330,000 active users and counting, ActiveRain is the biggest real estate social networking site there is. This means it is able to collect a lot of data about trends in realtor/buyer/seller confidence, as well as in the market, itself, and on both the national and local levels. An early-2013 study conducted by this social media and real estate powerhouse revealed some very promising attitudes amongst those most heavily invested in the behavior of the real estate market.
Bright Forecast for 2013 and beyond
What did the ActiveRain study find? For starters, over 84 percent of ActiveRain members feels optimistic about real estate value growth; this represents a confidence gain of over 133 percent since 2012. This same study also shows that a whopping 84 percent of real estate agents believe real estate transactions will continue to be on the rise; 74 percent believe that sales of new construction homes will rise; 74 percent foresee an overall economic turn-up. Not one market is expected to experience a decline in real estate transactions.
The evidence. This positive attitude in the real estate market sector may possibly be linked to a number of evidential factors. A recent report issued by the National Association of Realtors (NSA) claims that the number of home sales (existing homes) had increased by nearly 10 percent by the end of 2012, and that, at the same time, the national unsold home inventory had hit a 5-year low.
Opportunities
The great news is that everyone–no matter on which side of the real estate line they stand–can gain from the current real estate environment. Simply put, it is ripe with opportunities, for investors, real estate professionals, builders, and home buyers and sellers. Sparked by high return rates (in comparison with more conventional investment instruments like bonds, CDs, and Treasuries), investor activity is on the rise, as reported by JP Morgan, who estimates that about 80,000 single family homes will be purchased by institutional investors in 2013 alone. Home builders like D.H. Norton report record-high new home contracts. Realtors estimate that there are now more FSBO yard signs than there have been for nearly a decade! There is no arguing with numbers, and these numbers speak to anyone interested in getting in on the action. It’s so easy to browse opportunities.
Can, or will, real estate agents be able to recover from the previous five years of a stale economy? It seems obvious that, yes, they will – and they already are.
