taught us anything, it’s that markets can drastically change, even within a year. We talked with Bay Area economists, realtors and data analysts to better understand what they think will happen in the 2023 housing market.Bay Area buyers have experienced years of intense competition, excessive overbidding and the need to waive contingencies when it comes to writing an offer. Finally, the tides may be turning.
“That pressure [buyers] felt in 2021 that ‘I need to buy yesterday’ is gone,” East Bay real estate agent Anna Bellomo said. “Now they can go into the process a bit more calm and centered. I think that's a good thing.”No one knows what will happen with interest rates in the next year, but many experts agree they don’t expect them to go up significantly, if at all.
Especially in a severely underbuilt housing market like the Bay Area, Ratiu said, the lack of inventory is still a problem. He warns it won’t be solved anytime soon. That means home buyers, especially first-timers, may continue to be priced out. “Because prices have reached such a high level, low mortgage rates were the saving grace that enabled people to buy a home in the region,” said Matt Kreamer, data spokesperson for Zillow. “Therefore, when mortgage rates rise substantially, demand and price growth drops off more in the Bay Area than anywhere else in the country.