Factors that may affect 2018 housing market

Realtors are expecting overall home sales in Idaho to expand by 3 to 5 percent in 2018. The housing market is growing, and Ross Farr, a mortgage lender at Zions Bank, says the shortage of houses compared to the demand for them is expected to continue in 2018.

“Housing supply is low relative to demand. In 2007 there were twice as many builders, twice as many masons, twice as many framers as there are today. In the crash, these people left and found other careers. Now that housing is booming back. There’s not that many, so homes just can’t be built at the pace that they need to, to meet the demand that’s coming into this area,” Farr said.

With the lower cost of living in eastern Idaho, people are quickly moving to the area and buying homes, trying to take advantage of the low cost.

“My concern is, this won’t last. They can’t build them fast enough and people are noting, ‘Hey, you can get a lot of house in eastern Idaho,’ and they buy this stuff up. The builders cannot keep up,” Farr said.

If you are thinking about buying, in this market climate, do not wait for prices to drop because they won’t anytime soon. Buy when you can.

“This pervasive concern that this is a new bubble and that we’re heading for another collapse — I’ve worked through mortgage for 16 years. I did mortgages through that collapse. I know that fear is justified, however, this time, credit quality is so much higher. I don’t think people who are waiting for prices to come down, I don’t think they’re going to see it. I think they’re going to regret it. I think pricing are going to continue — not to skyrocket — but just to grind higher,” Farr said.

Home loan rates are also rising with inflation. Rates look to the future. Therefore, lenders adjust them higher because they anticipate more growth in the coming years.