2012 Real Estate Forecast

The Road to Recovery

Several years back—around 2008, when “the economy” was virtually inescapable and the climate in the luxury real estate market had hit a serious lull—everyone was on the edge of their seats, eager to hear the experts weigh in on when a recovery would take place. Do you remember that? The country’s economic woes (though the luxury real estate market was largely immune to the worst of them) were in full swing, and we weren’t supposed to see so much as the beginning of a return to normalcy (whatever that even means!) until 2012. For so many, 2012 seemed light years away. Well, here we are! It’s the beginning of the New Year, and, if the experts are correct in their analyses, it’s the beginning of what will be a prosperous—steady, but prosperous!—year for the luxury real estate market.

Homes for Sale in Newport Beach

Curious what prices will be like this year among the homes for sale in Newport Beach? If the experts’ predictions are correct, they won’t fluctuate too much from where they were in 2011. If we see a spike, it’s likely to be a slight one—and of course, certain sub markets are going to perform differently than others. Particularly in the wake of what was going on several years back, this is a “glass half full” scenario. And, if you’re considering buying a home this year, your glass runneth over: the Orange County register reported that house payments have hit an 8-year low.

The Bigger Picture

Some pretty important numbers indicate that things may finally be on the up and up. Jobs? 100,000 of them are being created a month, and that’s just right now. (The number could reach 150,000. Here’s hoping!) Not exactly the figures we were seeing pre-downturn, but an improvement nonetheless, and at the end of the day, good news for real estate.

The Media

Says veteran California real estate economist G.U. Krueger: there’s a lot of negative hype out there. We can thank the media for the dismal outlook on the real estate market… and we can also consider the facts, a big one being the Real GWP’s 1.8% increase. In other words … doomsday reports should be taken with a grain of salt.

To view more posts by Dianne Allen, click here.