ECONOMIC FORECAST

To try to forecast the future price performance of real estate would be similar to trying to forecast the performance of the stock market. There are, however, important factors to consider to help more accurately forecast such an event. For example, underlying economic conditions, leading and trailing indicators, historic performance, and demographic and census data are all key determinants to take into consideration.

The following is a list of resources that can be used to obtain this information. The U.S. Census Bureau can provide demographic and census data. The Mortgage Banker's Association has a forecast page which can be useful in forecasting real estate market performance as well as the activity levels for the mortgage lender in the future.

Historic interest rate trends tie in with real estate market forecasts and can be viewed at www.mortgage-x.com.

In addition, to completely understand what factors influence real estate valuations, one must also consider underlying demand patterns.  They are strongly affected by macroeconomic factors, such as personal income trends, employment data, and so on.  We have found that the  Bureau Of Labor Statistics is a great resource for this type of information.