The question of whether the real estate market is a bubble ready to pop seems to be dominating a lot of Realtor's conversations lately – and everyone has an opinion. It’s clear that consumers are concerned about how quickly home values are rising. Many people fear the speed of appreciation may lead to a crash in prices later this year in the last quarter. Google has even reported that the search for “When is the housing market going to crash?” has actually spiked 2450% over the previous month. Yet, when it comes down to it, the opinions that carry the most weight are the ones based on experience and expertise. Here are four expert opinions from professionals and organizations that have devoted their careers to giving advice to the housing industry.

Nathaniel Karp, Chief U.S. Economist at BBVA:

    “The housing market is in line with fundamentals as interest rates are attractive and incomes are high due to fiscal stimulus, making debt servicing relatively affordable and allowing buyers to qualify for larger mortgages. Underwriting standards are still strong, so there is little risk of a bubble developing.”

Mark Fleming, Chief Economist at First American:

    “Looking back at the bubble years, house prices exceeded house-buying power in 2006 nationally, but today house-buying power is nearly twice as high as the median sale price nationally… "

Bill McBride of Calculated Risk:

    “It’s not clear at all to me that things are going to slow down significantly in the near future. In 2005, I had a strong sense that the hot market would turn and that, when it turned, things would get very ugly. Today, I don’t have that sense at all, because all of the fundamentals are there. Demand will be high for a while, because Millennials need houses. Prices will keep rising for a while, because inventory is so low.”

The Joint Center for Housing Studies in their The State of the Nation’s Housing 2021 report:

    “… conditions today are quite different than in the early 2000s, particularly in terms of credit availability. The current climb in house prices instead reflects strong demand amid tight supply, helped along by record-low interest rates.”

 

All four strongly believe that we’re not in a bubble and won’t see crashing home values as we did in 2008. And they’re not alone – Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch share the same opinion. Let's see what these major financial services giants have said recently.

 

Goldman Sachs’ Research Note on Housing:

    “Strong demand for housing looks sustainable. Even before the pandemic, demographic tailwinds and historically-low mortgage rates had pushed demand to high levels. … consumer surveys indicate that household buying intentions are now the highest in 20 years. … As a result, the model projects double-digit price gains both this year and next.”

 

Joe Seydl, Senior Markets Economist, J.P.Morgan:

    “Homebuyers—interest rates are still historically low, though they are inching up. Housing prices have spiked during the last six-to-nine months, but we don’t expect them to fall soon, and we believe they are more likely to keep rising. If you are looking to purchase a new home, conditions now may be better than 12 months hence.”

 

Morgan Stanley, Thoughts on the Market Podcast:

    “Unlike 15 years ago, the euphoria in today’s home prices comes down to the simple logic of supply and demand. And we at Morgan Stanley conclude that this time the sector is on a sustainably, sturdy foundation . . . . This robust demand and highly challenged supply, along with tight mortgage lending standards, may continue to bode well for home prices. Higher interest rates and post pandemic moves could likely slow the pace of appreciation, but the upward trajectory remains very much on course.”

 

Merrill Lynch’s Capital Market Outlook:

    “There are reasons to believe that this is likely to be an unusually long and strong housing expansion. Demand is very strong because the biggest demographic cohort in history is moving through the household-formation and peak home-buying stages of its life cycle. Coronavirus-related preference changes have also sharply boosted home buying demand. At the same time, supply is unusually tight, with available homes for sale at record-low levels. Double-digit price gains are rationing the supply.”

 

If you’re concerned about making the decision to buy or sell right now, let’s connect to discuss what’s happening in the Ruidoso area's real estate market (575) 257-3221