We blinked, and suddenly, we’re near the end of 2023. The year thus far has been challenging for anyone involved in real estate. Will things change soon? What can we expect as we move into 2024? 

If you’ve been keeping your finger on the pulse of the real estate market, you’ve noticed just how slow things are right now. The National Association of Realtors predicts that the housing market is on track for its slowest year since 2008. Reports say the average homebuyer must make $115,000 annually to afford the typical U.S. home. On average, American households are short of that benchmark by $40,000.

If you’re looking to invest in today’s housing market, you might be in for a rude awakening. It’s not that investing in real estate is any less feasible or capable of generating long-term wealth. It’s more that building the right portfolio for the right price is more challenging than ever thanks to the combination of an inventory shortage, increasing property costs, and tough lending standards.

We’re not at all surprised that foreclosures are up. The data shows that properties in foreclosure in the United States grew just north of 35,000 units in May this year.

Low inventory has been the thorn in the housing market’s side for over a decade. The pandemic heightened the pressure of this squeeze, but make no mistake – this problem has been brewing for a while. In a turn of events, Housing Wire reports that soaring interest rates (now hitting the 7% mark) are finally affecting the real estate market.

ATTOM Data is one of the forerunners in real estate data and analysis. Recently, they released a report detailing the counties in the United States with the largest increases in annual rent returns for single-family rentals.

A decade of underbuilding led to a housing shortfall of 3.8 million units in 2019 – before the pandemic further exacerbated the issue with labor and supply chain problems. In other words, we’ve been building up to this housing supply crisis for a long time. It didn’t come out of nowhere.

We all know that the real estate market moves in cycles. We’re waiting for a market correction to take full effect and move us into more favorable conditions – but where exactly are we right now? And, more importantly, how did we get here?

Over the past year or so, it’s been impossible to escape real estate market doomsaying. It seems everyone is holding their breath in anticipation of a bursting bubble or housing crash. That, however, doesn’t seem as likely as a slow housing market correction.

According to Bankrate and Market Watch, the Sunbelt – specifically the Southeast – is the hottest region for real estate. West Coast and Rust Belt markets have grown cold due to massive price spikes and stagnant job growth, respectively. Meanwhile, 18 of the top 20 markets in the Bankrate Housing Heat Index are in the Sunbelt region.