I talked to a lot of economists last year about the 2023 market, and everyone agreed that the range of forecasts was unusually wide. One thing everyone agreed on is that there’s going to be significant regional variation. Unlike in 2021 and 2022, where basically every market in the U.S. showed strong price growth, economists expected some markets to slow far more than others this year. For the most part, the markets where prices rose the most during the recent boom are also expected to post the steepest price declines.

And remember, the housing market is in a much stronger position today than during the housing boom and bust of the early 2000s. In many markets, even a 20% home-price drop would not bring prices back to pre-pandemic levels, so many homeowners would still have equity.

-Nicole

edit: added gift links