Expert: Home Prices To Stay Steady In '07

It will be steady as she goes for housing prices in the new year, according to real estate expert Mark Nash.

On The Early Show Thursday, the Chicago real estate broker, author, and syndicated columnist told co-anchor Julie Chen things aren't as bad as they've been portrayed.

"The market, in general, is made up of many local markets," Nash said. "But I think prices are stabilized. In some states, like Texas, we're still seeing a big rise in home appreciation. I was talking to a real estate journalist in Syracuse, N.Y., and he's like, 'Oh, Mark, we're just starting that rise up."

Overall, predicted Nash, "We're gonna be somewhat plateaued, price-wise," though he stressed it's difficult to characterize the nation as a whole.

Nash points out that personal income hasn't kept up with home price appreciation, and that's resulted in prices finally stabilizing.

It's not a buyer's market, Nash says. Buyers perceive that the pendulum swung in one fell swoop from sellers to buyers last year, but in reality, we are in a balanced market, where no one is driving real estate transactions. Prices have flattened or even declined two-to-five percent, but homes that are priced right are still selling within six percent of their asking price, and extremely popular homes still command multiple full-price offers.

Nash says he firmly believes the first half of 2007 will feature many "deferred demand" buyers — those who sat on the sidelines in 2006 with concerns about buying at the top of the market, and those who were struggling with high gas prices. The demand from those buyers may even be strong enough to spur some spotty market frenzy, as we saw in 2004-2005. The last two months of 2006 saw some of the strongest market activity of the year, and that's usually a very quiet time, even in a hot market. Nash feels that activity bodes well for 2007.

Based on all that, what advice does Nash have for buyers and sellers?

BUYERS