Des Moines’ 2023 real estate predictions – Axios

Local experts predict 2023 will bring more normalcy to the Des Moines-area market. Here’s what they’re saying.

1. Conditions will be less frenetic.

The market will more closely resemble that of pre-pandemic 2019, forecasts realtor Erika Hansen with Coldwell Banker Mid-America.

• Housing inventory will incrementally increase over time, predicts broker Ted Weaver with RE/MAX Concepts. Prices will stabilize, with the pace of price increases slowing considerably, Weaver says.
• “Time on market to sell a home will revert back to more ‘normal’ times, and interest rates, while higher than recent years, should stabilize,” Weaver tells Axios.

2. The market is cooling, not crashing.

This year will serve as the bridge back to a more robust housing market in 2024, Weaver says.

• “We’re entering a bit of a recovery phase right now,” says broker Jen Stanbrough with Jen Stanbrough Real Estate. “We’re back to an even market — it’s not a seller’s market or a buyer’s market.”

3. Buyers will have more flexibility.

Those market shifts will give buyers a chance to breathe and take their time, Stanbrough tells Axios.

• Over the summer, Stanbrough recalls going into houses where there may have been 15 other people looking at a house or waiting on the doorstep.
• “I had to tell my clients, ‘If you want this house, you have to make an offer today,'” she says. “We saw a lot of buyer’s remorse. We’re not seeing that now.”