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There has been some buzz around the housing industry this past week with several organizations releasing the 2017 year-end housing data and predicting what we can expect in 2018. I won’t bore you with the analytics but to bring you up to speed – home sales (both new & existing) finished at the highest level since 2007 and the trend is expected to continue; rent increased 3% but mortgage application also increased 3% (which could be a telling sign of a switch from rent to own); interest rates stayed relatively stable; however, expect a steady climb throughout the rest of the year – and so on and so on….
Another hot topic in 2017 was millennials and their impact on the housing market (we published a few blogs about this). Are they going to start buying houses or continue to rent? Do they even have enough money buy a house? Well, funny you ask because Bank of America put out a survey this week saying that 1 in 6 millennials have $100,000 saved and nearly 50% have at least $15,000 saved….wait, excuse me, what? Is that in dollar or Bitcoin? Experts mostly chalk it up to timing (most millennials didn’t experience the direct impacts of the economic collapse in 2007); expected increased wages (due to more high-skilled and technology-focused jobs); and an overall sense of saving (millennials are more cautious with their cash). Maybe we should take these millennials a little more serious because they could be onto something.
And since we’re on the topic of saving money and the outlook on 2018, how are your New Year’s Resolutions looking? Did you start working out regularly or create that monthly budget yet? Well the good news is that it’s still January and you have time to get in gear. If you’re struggling a bit, try this – instead of setting 3 or 4 big resolutions, try breaking your year up into 4 quarters. Then, set smaller goals each quarter and identify what changes you need to make and actions to take to meet those quarterly goals. Write them down, keep track of your progress each week, hold yourself accountable, and watch what happens – you’ll start hitting those resolutions!
Cheers!
JT
The opinions expressed in this post are the sole view of the writer and do not reflect the opinion of Princeton Mortgage Corporation.