Lately there’s been a lot of talk and debate on whether or not we are going to be experiencing another huge hit in our industry. As a result, you and I have all been worrying how we could afford another hit and manage to come out of it this time around. However, have you read the article that was published on the Fannie Mae site on June 23, 2015 called “Economic Rebound on the Horizon with Q1 Slump in Rearview Mirror,” by Katie Penote? It actually gave me quite a bit of hope for this upcoming quarter and I hope it does the same for you. It states that even with the rise of the U.S. dollar, and the ongoing trials our country has been experiencing in regards to the oil and gas industry, what will keep us afloat is that employment rates are actually on the rise, which means the average household income will also increase, providing a better market for real estate. In fact, they claim that this is likely to assist our economic growth to jump about 3.0% by the second half of the year! So cheer up! The way I see it, we are consumed by negative information. For some reason, misery and strife sells more stories than positive forecasting. If I solely focused on the bad in this industry, I’ll be honest with you; I probably would have never even entered it! Instead, I believe in the American Dream! I know if I want it, and I work hard enough for it, you’d better believe I am going to get it! Maybe if more of us adopted this mind set, we’d be able to relax a bit more and try a bit harder rather than giving up so easily.
Also, check out what Doug Duncan, Chief Economist for Fannie Mae, had to say: “Our forecast for housing and mortgage activity remains unchanged amid continued [improvement] seen at the start of the second quarter. We expect total housing starts and total home sales in 2015 to rise about 10 and 5 percent, respectively, with mortgage originations increasing approximately 23 percent to $1.46 trillion. Given the uneven economic growth in the U.S. and slow growth around the globe, interest rates are unlikely to surge. This should enable the housing market to better withstand some headwinds from higher rates this year than in the past.” That’s good news! So don’t fret!
Sure, we may have expected some higher numbers than what was originally forecasted, and it seems like the auto industry is on a higher rise since the increase in household income than the real estate industry for the past few quarters, but research by Fannie Mae has also found that individuals are saying they plan to invest in buying a home rather than renting this upcoming year. You know what the means for all us right…we’re actually going to be okay and we’re doing a lot better than we did last year! With more people buying homes, this means more business for all of us – from Banks, to the Mortgage Industry, to Investors, to Appraisal Management Companies, to Appraisers all the way down to homeowners.
So, what do you think? It’s not so bad after all, right?
Thanks for reading!