At the beginning of 2020, the real estate market forecasts are looking good, and sellers are in a great position moving forward. With a new year underway, understanding what’s going on in the real estate market can help inform how you handle selling your home. Now is a great opportunity to go over what home sellers need to know about the changing Greater Cincinnati Area and Northern Kentucky real estate market.
HOME PRICES ARE SLOWLY RISING
In 2018, home prices grew by an average of 5 percent and prices saw an average increase of 3.3 percent in 2019. While 2019 did see that substantial decline in growth, it was still a year of steady price increases.
The 2000s were mostly a decade of large real estate price growth, but that is starting to slow as we enter a new decade. For the time being, we expect home prices to continue to rise slightly, but there are not any signs of rapid acceleration anytime soon.
With this possibly becoming the tail end of that growth cycle, sellers in the Greater Cincinnati Area and Northern Kentucky real estate market will be in a great position to maximize potential profits.
INTEREST RATES ARE TEMPORARILY DECLINING
In 2019, the Federal Reserve reduced real estate interest rates multiple times, in part due to economic complications between the United States and China.
Economists are expecting the Federal Reserve to maintain real estate interest rates at 3.7% for 30-year mortgages, the most common form of conventional mortgage. This is good news for both home buyers and sellers since it means fewer fees in the long run for buyers and more buyers looking for homes from the sellers.
MILLENNIALS ARE THE BIGGEST BUYERS
Now that the Millennial generation has grown up, they are looking to purchase their first homes. They have rapidly become the largest group of home buyers in the Greater Cincinnati Area and Northern Kentucky real estate market.
This means you can do a few things to make your listing more appealing to that specific group of home buyers.
It’s extremely important to have an online listing when selling your home. This should include a professional set of photos and maybe even a floor plan and 3-D virtual tour. Adding on the floor plan and 3-D virtual tour goes the extra mile to both inform and impress potential buyers.
Millennials are also more concerned with the location of a property in the Greater Cincinnati Area and Northern Kentucky real estate market for transporting kids to school and activities than they are with the size of the property. Make sure to highlight any close proximity to shopping, restaurants, and schools.
BABY BOOMERS ARE THE BIGGEST SELLERS
While Millennials are the biggest group of home buyers, Baby Boomers are becoming the biggest group of home sellers. This is becoming a more common trend due to Baby Boomers aging and either going into group housing or looking to downsize.
This can greatly shift the balance of available properties on the Greater Cincinnati Area and Northern Kentucky real estate market, depending on how many people are selling in proportion to buying.
THE CURRENT HOUSING SHORTAGE MAY SPUR NEW CONSTRUCTION
Last, but not least, we are currently experiencing a serious housing shortage in this country and this is heavily weighing on metropolitan areas. Some cities are desperately trying to remedy this issue by incentivizing new construction to provide homes while also keeping prices realistic. While the Greater Cincinnati Area and Northern Kentucky area is unique in its own ways, it still follows a lot of the same trends in the national housing market.