By Hannah Heser, Reporter
In the last year the housing market has faced competitive prices. Everyone is asking where this historically competitive market will go next. Home prices are expected to rise by 7.9 percent between the fourth quarters of 2021 and 2022.
Shannon Bartling, realtor at Berkshire Hathaway, said building a new home would be the best idea for buyers right now. There is less competition with other buyers, it rarely gives up inspections and allows sellers to close when they want.
Dan Dixon, another Omaha realtor, said one of the major changes from the beginning of the year to now is simply the rise of property values.
“That is a factor of supply and demand. When supplies are as modest as they have been this year, people are comfortable,” Dixon said. “They have refinanced in low mortgage rate situations, and they are really enjoying their houses.”
Overall, there have been quite a few changes in the housing market since the start of the year. New construction is down right now and existing homes are still going strong, but the market is not as hot as it was in the spring.
All of the delays and uncertainties are holding people back from building and remodeling. Bartling predicts interest rates will go up next year and encourages people to start looking to buy houses sooner rather than later.
“Spring market will be busy and as far as the rest of the year goes, I think it will be strong because we are still in a housing shortage,” Bartling added. “There are still a lot of people that need to find homes.”
A recent report from the Census Bureau in August said that the Omaha metro area showed a much higher rate of growth between 2010 and 2020 than what most experts predicted. By national standards, housing prices in Omaha are very moderate compared to many other places in the United States.
