With COVID-19 inflation on its last legs, the Las Vegas real estate experts at Shelter Realty are predicting a significant shift in Southern Nevada’s housing market for the coming year. The current record-high home mortgage interest rates are expected to slip into somewhat more manageable territory by 2024, potentially nudging the market from a consistent seller’s favor into the hands of buyers.
In recent years, the Las Vegas real estate market has largely operated on the sellers’ terms. However, that scenario is now expected to witness a change. The Federal Reserve’s frequent hikes in interest rates, a response to the highest levels of national inflation in four decades, have forced many homeowners and would-be sellers to retreat from the market. Yet, following the Federal Reserve’s recent announcement to cut interest rates thrice in 2024, there’s an air of hope that the market conditions will turn around.
Before potential sellers and buyers let their imaginations run wild with the prospect of returning to the rock-bottom interest rates seen at the pandemic’s outset, it’s important to note that many experts hold a different view. Despite the anticipated interest rate deductions, the vision of a future with extraordinarily low rates remains misty. The expectation, rather, is to adopt these heightened rates as the new normal moving forward.
While this paints a more hopeful picture for the Southern Nevada real estate market, it’s far from a promise of a thriving buying season. Shelter Realty market updates predict that Las Vegas Valley might face its worst sales year since the financial crisis of 2008. Given the air of uncertainty shrouding the industry, experts contend that the trajectory for 2024 remains largely unpredictable at this stage.
In theory, an improved inflation situation and slowly reducing mortgage rates should motivate sellers who have previously withheld their properties due to higher mortgage costs to start listing their homes. Such a move would be a crucial shift towards favoring the buyers. However, this relies heavily on the assumption that home sellers will, eventually, drop their asking prices—a skepticism has arisen among the real estate community.
Despite declining sales figures and a low inventory of properties, home sellers in Las Vegas continue to maintain their asking prices, showing little willingness to negotiate. The prices are predicted to fall by a mere 1 percent in 2024’s second and third quarters, fostering a unique “locking” phenomenon in the Southern Nevada market.
To further complicate matters, the precise direction of the Las Vegas real estate market in 2024 remains a question mark. The only certainty so far seems to be the unpredictability. Real estate pundits, however, remain hopeful as they anticipate the situation to become clearer in the coming months.
Indeed, the market condition of 2024 remains obscured for the moment. Yet, that hasn’t deterred the vigilant team at Shelter Realty from making its keen observations and anticipation about the future. They maintain a staunch commitment to future homeowners and sellers, always ready to provide expert advice in fluctuating markets and strive to convert these challenges into opportunities, akin to navigating a ship through uncharted waters.
But, as the old saying goes, “change is the only constant.” The anticipation surrounding changes in the real estate market represents a universal sentiment of hope and resilience. With a potential shift towards a buyer’s market, a sense of optimism is on the horizon. How the market will evolve, only time will tell. For now, experts recommend patience and preparedness, as well as flexibility in response to new opportunities, as we step into the unknown that is 2024.
For insights and expert analyses on these trends and more about Las Vegas’s ever-evolving real estate market, visit https://www.shelterrealty.com/blog/
