Forecast For 2018: What’s The Next-Next?

 

We broke out the crystal ball to give you a peek into what’s coming in the next year.

At this time of year, everyone is offering their predictions for the real estate industry. Through our practice consulting with real estate brokerages around the country, here’s what we see for 2018.

  • There will be changes at the top of two or three of the national real estate organizations in 2018. This will be the first time this has happened in 20 years. And, we would expect to see significant changes in at least two of these organizations due to these changes.

 

  • NAR’s new CEO Bob Goldberg will be under enormous pressure to make some significant changes to how and where NAR operates. What businesses might he reinvest in and which might he cut loose may have a significant impact on his organizations.

 

  • The House/Senate tax plan passed and, for the most part, will negatively impact housing sales, mostly at the upper end. It may slow that portion of the market down for some time. However, we do not believe it will have a long-term effect on overall housing sales.

 

  • Compass will spend its $500 million in new capital buying brokerage firms as well as agents and teams in its efforts to convince its investors that it can grow rapidly and become as profitable as its market capitalization indicates.

 

  • There will be dozens of new Artificial Intelligence tools available to the real estate brokerage profession. Some will find a market and shift spending away from general online advertising to more focused targeted advertising.

 

  • Consolidation will continue among Realtor® associations and MLSs at a faster pace than before.

 

  • Many new legal challenges will appear challenging the Independent Contractor arrangement of our industry.

 

  • 2018 is Upstream’s make it or break it year. Can they get the service into the hands of enough brokerage firms and markets to begin to show its promise?

 

  • The housing market will remain very strong, driven by the increase in households and household incomes—restraining the market will be the extraordinary lack of inventory and house prices. Overall, expect a small increase in unit sales and home prices.