2020 Economic & Housing Market Forecast
                     WINDERMERE
2020 Economic & Housing Market Forecast
“ As we head toward the end of the year, it’s time to recap how the U.S. economy and housing markets performed this year and offer 
my predictions for 2020.
“

US Economy
In general, the economy performed pretty much as I expected 
this year: job growth slowed but the unemployment rate still 
hovers around levels not seen since the late 1960s.
Following the significant drop in corporate tax rates in January 
2018, economic growth experience a big jump. 
In 2020, I expect payrolls to continue growing, but the rate 
of growth will slow as the country adds fewer than 1.7 
million new jobs. 
Many economists, including me, spent much of 2019 worried 
about the specter of a looming recession in 2020. Thankfully, 
such fears have started to wane (at least for now).
Existing Homes
As I write this article, full-year data has yet to be released. 
However, I feel confident that 2019 will end with a slight rise in 
home sales. For 2020,  I expect sales to rise around 2.9% to just 
over 5.5 million units.
Home prices next year will continue to rise as mortgage rates remain
    very competitive. Look for prices to increase 3.8% in 2020 as demand 
    continues to exceed supply and more first-time buyers enter the market.
 In the year ahead, I expect the share of first-time buyers to 
grow, making them a very significant component of the housing 
     market. 
New Homes
The new-home market has been pretty disappointing 
for most of the year due to significant obstacles 
preventing builders from building. Land prices, labor 
and material costs, and regulatory fees make it very 
hard for builders to produce affordable housing. As a 
result, many are still focused on the luxury market 
where there are profits to be made, despite high 
demand from entry-level buyers.
Mortgage Rates
Next year will still be very positive 
from a home-financing 
perspective,with the average rate 
for a 
30-year conventional, fixed-rate 
mortgage averaging under 
4%. That said, if there are 
significant improvements in trade 
issues with China, this forecast 
may change, but not significantly.
 
Conclusion
In this coming year, affordability issues will persist 
in many markets around the country, such as San 
Francisco; Los Angeles; San Jose; Seattle; and 
Bend, Oregon. The market will also continue to 
favor home sellers, but we will start to move more 
toward balance, resulting in another positive year 
overall for U.S. housing.