Spring homebuying season – is it poised for a surge?

What’s impacting the homebuying market?

The showing is attributable to a number of factors, but principally it’s illustrative of a collective reckoning as consumers acclimate to a new reality: “The leveling off and consistency of the rates over the last three months is a big piece of that where homebuyers are finally coming to terms with those new numbers and that new norm,” Feuerbacher said.

Groody expounded on the scenario while placing things in perspective: “I think it’s also advisable to think of the environment coming from the end of 2022 into the early part of 2023,” he said. “The viewpoint that the data does suggest is the ability for things to start moderating to the good is a good way to take away the rate market, the volume market, the loan amount market. Those kinds  of things all lend themselves to the same viewpoint that good doesn’t mean great.”

Indeed, amid a backdrop of uncertainty over virtually uncharted waters, even the nomenclature tends to warp: “Any uplift at this point is good for the market,” Feuerbacher said. “A surge at this point is not the same surge we saw before. It’s a relative surge, but it’s good to see the market could have the seasonal uptick. It will breed additional confidence in buyers that, yes, now is a good time to get out there not only potentially for a new purchase but also if you’re looking for home equity loans or something along those lines.”

Will the market improve in 2023?

Groody added to that psychological phenomenon among acclimated consumers: “When you look at the impact that everybody saw but didn’t feel in 2022 about the rapid rise in rates, the consumers’ expectations and  discipline is not as reactive to the negative as it was when those things first started to happen. Time settled some of that out. It is not incorrect to think that even with the rise in rates, therefore rise in payment, that in some markets the ability for the price point of a home to come down a bit levels out that area of concern to the borrower, the consumer, as we think about the market.”

He added: “It may also be helpful when you look at the impact that everybody saw but didn’t necessarily feel in 2022 about the rapid rise in rates, consumers’ expectations and discipline are not as reactive to the negative as it was when those things first started to happen,” Groody said. “Time settled some of that out. It is not incorrect to think that even with the rise in rate, therefore rise in payment, that in some markets the ability for the price point of a home to come down a bit levels out that area of concern to the borrower, the consumer, as we think about the market impacts moderating and settling down.”