What the Real Estate Market Will Do in 2020

Today I’m sharing my predictions regarding prices, inventory, interest rates and average days on market.

To bring you up to speed on our current real estate market, interest rates are still low, and we’re looking at fixed-rate mortgages as low as 3% to 3.5%. Here are my predictions on what the market will do in this new year: 

1. Interest rates will stay low. The government said it wants to hold interest rates, so I think for at least the next six months you can expect them to stay low, but after that—you never know. 

2. Inventory will increase. As of the beginning of January, we’re seeing the lowest level of single-family homes for sale in the Milwaukee area, less than 4,000. For reference, compare this number to roughly 9,000 homes in January 2015. However, as we head into the spring and summer months, I do expect that we will see an increase. 

3. Median sale prices will continue to go up. The rise likely won’t be as high as what we saw recently in the Milwaukee area, where prices in some cases increased by 8% to 10%. I predict that in 2020 we will see a 3% to 5% increase in prices. If inventory levels get higher, prices may even level out. 

4. The average days on market will increase. In most market places, the average days on market is about 30 days. The higher price-range homes (anything from $500,000 to $1 million-plus) are still taking longer to sell and aren’t going up in value as much. The average days on market in 2020 will be lengthened by an increase in inventory. 

It’s a great time to buy a home when you consider how low the interest rates are; if you need pre-approval, contact us and we can get you set up with a lender. Sellers: take advantage of what will be the seventh year of a strong seller’s market. 

If you would like to get a valuation on your home, give me a call or reach out to anyone at the Roth Team. We’d be happy to help you.