First-time Home Buyers, Inventory Expected to Rebound in 2024

Home price appreciation should outstrip all inflation measures this year except that of energy

According to the latest Zillow® Home Price Expectations Survey, the housing market will return to pre-pandemic 2019 norms by 2024, at least in terms of inventory and the share of purchases made by first-time home buyers.

The dwindling supply of homes for sale has been a key driver of the recent explosion in U.S. home values, which have risen 32% in the past two years. Total inventory has fallen from a monthly average of 1.6 million units in 2018 and 2019 to just over 1 million in 2021, and monthly figures in 2022 are lower still. 

According to the survey's largest group (38 percent), monthly inventory should reach 1.5 million units by 2024. But many are more optimistic — the second-largest group (36%) believes supply will return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, while 12%) believes supply will return in 2025.

"Inventory and mortgage rates will determine how far and how fast home prices will rise this year and beyond," said Zillow senior economist Jeff Tucker. "We are seeing new listings returning to the market, slowly, as we enter the hottest selling season of the year, but this supply deficit is going to take a long time to fill."

Return of the first-time homebuyer

The pandemic ushered in record-breaking price growth alongside rent hikes that made saving for down payments even more difficult. As a result, the share of first-time homebuyers dropped from 45% in 2019 to 37% in 2021, according to a Zillow survey of recent buyers. 

First-time buyers should regain their pre-pandemic share of the market in a couple of years, according to the majority of experts polled, with 26% pointing to 2024, and 25% liking 2025. Eighteen percent of the experts polled did not believe the share of first-time buyers will rise above 45% until after 2030, despite millennials — the largest U.S. generation ever-aging well into their prime home-buying years before that time. 

Inflation considerations

Inflation has already begun eroding the bottom lines of American households, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics noting rising costs for energy, housing, and food as prime factors driving it to a four-decade high. 

Of the six categories considered, survey participants expect energy prices to increase the most over the course of 2022, followed by house prices, residential rents, and food costs. Employee wages and stock prices were ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, rounding out the list.

Price growth projections

Pulsenomics founder Terry Loebs said the panel's average projections for home price growth in 2022 have been revised upward, from 6.6% three months ago to 9% in this survey. 

"Against the backdrop of tightening Fed policy and increasing mortgage rates, this more bullish outlook for home values suggests that home inventory shortages will remain the dominant price driver this year," Loebs said. "If price increases this year for homes, rents, energy, and food each exceed wage growth – as the panel expects – home affordability challenges will intensify further, especially for low- and moderate-income renters."

Zillow economists forecast a 16.3% rise in typical home values from February through December. 

[1] This edition of the Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey surveyed 109 housing market experts and economists between February 16 and March 2, 2022, to gather their predictions for the outlook of the housing market in 

IndraStra Global is now available on
Apple News, Google News, Flipboard, Feedburner, and Telegram

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this insight piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of IndraStra Global.

COPYRIGHT: This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

REPUBLISH: Republish our articles online or in print for free if you follow these guidelines. https://www.indrastra.com/p/republish-us.html