As we’re nearing the end of 2025 and looking over the horizon to 2026, you may be wondering what the real estate market will look like in this new year. While we can’t predict exactly what will happen, we can definitely look at trends and current events to see where we could be headed, making a type of real estate forecast, which can be beneficial for making your plans for your home and family.
Will homes become more affordable? We do believe so, but lower prices will be slow in the making. It takes time for an economy to settle and same goes for the real estate market. There were quite a few buyers in the market in 2025 and they had quite a few homes to choose from because the inventory was higher than its been in years. We had about three months of inventory, which is still a seller’s market, but it behaved like a buyer’s market in that buyers got discounts on prices, lots of repairs, and some compensation for closing costs or rate buy downs. Resale homes had to compete with new home sales and because builders often offer quite a few concessions, sellers of resale homes also had to give concessions.
Inventory is expected to increase, especially as we come out of the cold months and into the warmer seasons. Mortgage rates are looking to stay around where they’re at, about 6%, with the potential to dip below that current rate.
Wages increasing and the job market stabilizing will have a big effect on people being able to afford to buy and sell homes, so there is great hope that wages will indeed go up and home prices will remain steady to help balance out the market for the first time in many years. Existing home sales are predicted to go up by about 3%.
All of this of course will take time, we are not looking at a sudden drop but at a gradual slope towards affordability. The places in high demand will still of course be more expensive and have lower inventory than the rest of the US, but maybe the younger generations will finally feel like they have a chance to buy affordable homes for themselves. We will watch 2026 with hope and anticipation!
Happy New Year from all of us here at TV Idaho RE and PM, we hope your family will be blessed in this coming year.