FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — The online real estate brokerage Redfin predicts 2026 will bring the “Great Housing Reset.”<\/p>\n
A slow recovery leading to a normalization of home prices.<\/p>\n
“Nationally, we think home sales will improve 3% from last year, which is not a huge difference, but it is a slight improvement,” says Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “In Central California, I would imagine that home sale growth will be similar, maybe even slightly higher, because of its affordability advantage over coastal California.”<\/p>\n
Fairweather predicts 30-year fixed mortgage rates will average 6.3% throughout the year. Not much movement.<\/p>\n
Still, she says buying power could increase.<\/p>\n
“We think wages will increase faster than home prices,” she said. “We’re only forecasting 1% home price growth, and wage growth will likely continue to rise around 2%. You know, that depends on how strong the economy is or how weak the economy is.”<\/p>\n
Fairweather predicts many households will continue to go through a reshaping process.<\/p>\n
The expected market changes still are not enough for many young homeowners to afford a house on their own.<\/p>\n
“But maybe they have parents who are homeowners, or they have friends who are in a similar situation,” Fairweather said. “We think that there’ll be more inter-generational housing and also more people teaming up with roommates in order to buy homes.”<\/p>\n
Redfin also expects to see a rise in refinancing applications next year as homeowners look to pay for renovations.<\/p>\n
“One thing that was surprising was when we went to calculate how many more people will be refinancing, we found that a 30% increase was highly likely given how many people have rates above 6%,” Fairweather said.<\/p>\n
Fairweather says one-fifth of homeowners are paying home mortgage rates above 6%.<\/p>\n
Redfin also predicts AI will play a greater role in helping people find their next house, helping them identify cities and neighborhoods, instead of using a geographical search.<\/p>\n
For news updates, follow Dale Yurong on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2025 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n