State of the housing market: December 2023

Home and rental prices have dipped again, rounding off a year of ups and downs. Industry experts predict a calmer housing market in 2024. While affordability concerns persist, buyers are forecast to find things easier next year.

• According to Realtor.com, the national median list price fell slightly for the fifth month in a row, from $425,000 in October to $420,000 in November.

• The site also reports a 9% decrease in newly listed homes – from 348,564 in October to 316,990 in November.

• Zumper reports the national median rent for one-bedroom homes is down another 0.4% over last month at $1,499. At $1,856, two-bedroom median rent is down 0.3% month over month.

• Sixty of Zumper’s top 100 cities saw a drop in rental prices from the previous month, while 11 reported no change. Half are down year over year.

• Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades attributes the small movements in rental prices to “most major markets settl[ing] into their new resting heart rates. Miami, for example, is more expensive than pre-pandemic; but it’s no longer seeing steep hikes month after month.”

• The current deceleration trend is predicted by Zillow to result in “a bit more affordability breathing room” for home buyers in 2024.

• If rental prices continue to go down next year, property managers may earn less per unit. However, lower rent could grow the pool of potential tenants, which could mean higher demand, fewer vacant units, and a steadier cash flow – especially for single-family rentals, which Zillow is calling “the new starter home.”

• The National Association of Home Builders reports builder confidence for newly built single-family homes rose three points to 37 in December.

• NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz says, “The housing market appears to have passed peak mortgage rates for this cycle, and this should help to spur home buyer demand in the coming months.”

More rental market headlines

How renters are using TikTok, X to defraud landlords at luxury apartments – Bisnow

Free rent offers surge in Dallas – Axios

Move over Millennials, Gen Z is driving rental demand – Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies