Berkshire Real Estate Predictions for 2010

The new year promises some changes to the Berkshire real estate market, as well as the market as a whole. So what road will the real estate market take in 2010?

Here are some of our 2010 Berkshire real estate predictions:

1. There will be a greater diversity of buyer types.  This ranges from seniors with little or no interest in high technology to the middle range of empty nesters who have a mixed level of technological interest and expect instant response to their text messaged inquiries.
2. Top Realtors® will need to be on the leading edge of technological advances–such as Facebook, Twitter, and mobile applications–in order to provide accurate, meaningful, and advanced services and results to their clients.
3. Part time practitioners will struggle to keep up; full time professionals will continue to expand their market share. For clients seeking superior results, the full time professional will be the preferred and necessary option although “friends” and “relatives” of part timers will always account for some business, sometimes to their client’s disadvantage however.
4. That being said, requirements by law and the costs to remain in the business will steadily increase which in some cases will cut out the weaker and less dedicated licensees
5. The stock market will advance, real estate values will stabilize and consumer confidence will improve modestly. Job growth will be slow and as such will continue to be a dampening weight on any potential rebound.
6. Downsizing, rightsizing, and greening will be significant trends and have an impact on value
7. There will be more single and alternative household formations as compared to traditional families.
8. Condominium sales will remain relatively strong for the obvious advantages to today’s busy lifestyles and shrinking family sizes. There is a substantial oversupply of condo conversions of former apartments and these will not fare so well.
9. Along with the aging of the baby boomer population, more growth in the sunbelt and even overseas as Americans discover attractive and less expensive foreign alternatives such as Central America.
10. No new housing price bubbles in sight. Baby boomers selling one of their two homes, relocations out of the area,  job losses, shrinking populations in the Berkshires: these trends as well as the losses suffered by speculators and get rich quick flippers, will all help to keep prices at moderate levels.
11. First time and repeat buyer tax incentive programs will attract qualified buyers and motivate them to take action before these programs expire thus helping to stimulate the market in important but still modest ways.
12. Many sellers accept diminished expectations and in some cases where they purchased during the boom, even losses.

What are your real estate predictions for 2010? We’d love to hear them.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 1:04 pm and is filed under Berkshire Real Estate, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.