“Interest rates will be UP a bit + home prices have gone up as well” according to National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist Robert Dietz.  Interest rates will probably go to 4.5% by mid-year.  Inventory shortages have fueled bidding wars.  The new tax law is expected to contribute to price softness in some high-cost, high-tax markets now that deductions for income and property taxes are capped at $10,000 per year.

Theoretically, housing is around 75 to 85% where it should be.  The Fed will likely continue to raise interest rates in 2018, despite that GDP & inflation are not where they need to be.  Dr. Jim Gaines, Texas A&M Real Estate Center,  says the 2018 Texas forecast is for 4.1% growth, versus the 2.9% growth for the U. S.

Dr. Jim Gaines, the Chief Economist of the Real Estate Center at TX A&M, told the International Council of Shopping Centers on 1/26/2018 in Dallas that “the corporate tax rate is getting the most attention, especially from small businesses”.  Meanwhile, the housing industry was, in Gaines’ words “sort of recovered”.  A decade after the start of the Great Recession, housing still isn’t all the way back.  MORE COMING NEXT!