The real estate market faced many challenges in the last year. Buyers and sellers waded through an environment of high interest rates, low housing inventory, increased prices, and strong competition. Homebuyers faced a tough market in 2023 and while we are slowly climbing back and there is optimism for the future, it will take time to get back to what is considered a balanced market. The combination of high buyer demand, increased rates, and years of underbuilding has brought us to the current inventory and pricing challenges. For 2024, all eyes are on the Fed and where they go with interest rates. During their final meeting of the year, they signaled that they are done with interest rate hikes and are looking at possibly three cuts this year. This is positive news for the housing market and had an impact on mortgage rates where they have already started to dip from the high of 2023. Across the Commonwealth, the housing market has been plagued by under development of new housing stock, an issue that began during the Great Recession. Not only has the cost to build new homes significantly increased over the years but local cities and towns have town building code regulations that make it difficult to build for the needs of our communities, greatly limiting the ability to build multiple units and accessory dwelling units. Couple that with water quality issues on Cape Cod that have driven the need for changes to the Title V regulation and local politics, we will continue to see negative impact on the ability to build enough homes to satisfy the demand. The overall outlook for the 2024 housing market is one that is cautiously optimistic. The market ahead is one that will remain consistent through the beginning of the year. Demand is still high, prices are holding strong, and there are creative means of financing to help buyers bear the brunt of current interest rates. — 2 — EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Emily Clark President, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Robert Paul Properties
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