New home construction, moderate prices: Predicting the 2024 Peoria-area housing market
As the greater Peoria area, along with the rest of the United States, begins a new year, local real estate investors and home buyers may be speculating what 2024 will bring in the real estate market.
What trends can the area expect to see? What factors are driving the trends? What potential opportunities are out there?
According to Peoria Area Association of Realtors secretary treasurer Leslie Rothan, a lack of housing inventory has led to elevated local home prices. Investors have also become more selective about which properties they want to purchase or sell, which has led to a decrease in real estate sales.
There will always be demand for new homes, however, and Rothan believes the greater Peoria area’s job market brings in a steady supply of new residents. The new arrivals could create a demand that will see local home sales and prices increase in 2024.
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“We’re seeing a lot of movement with employment,” she said. “We’re seeing a lot of people being relocated to the greater Peoria area for the medical centers and also with industrial jobs at Rivian and Amazon. That’s going to promote more sales in our area.”
Because of the anticipated demand, Rothan predicted that 2024 will see an increase in new home construction. She noted that an economic asset that could attract new residents to central Illinois is affordability.
“We have some of the most affordable home prices in the state,” she said. “That's why the greater Peoria area is so desirable. Somebody can purchase a home with a bigger footprint for less money than they could in a larger market.”
Derrick, Barker, chief executive officer of the Atlanta-based real estate financing platform Nectar, said that high interest rates in 2023 made buying property more expensive. In turn, developers found it more expensive to build new housing, which drove up housing prices not only in the greater Peoria area, but nationwide.
“The (Federal Reserve) has indicated the interest rates might moderate,” Barker added. “They’re still going to be restrictive for housing and housing prices. I wouldn’t expect housing prices to have a dramatic uptick in the Peoria area in 2024. If anything, they’re probably going to stay where they are and maybe trend down moderately.”
When real estate is more expensive due to high federal interest rates, investors may be understandably cautious about buying property. But Barker maintained that it is historically a better time to invest in real estate when interest rates are high.
“Because interest rates are high, there aren’t as many buyers in the marketplace,” he said. “These are the times when there are deals to be had.”
Rothan said she advises consumers looking to invest in local real estate to consult with local realtors for the simple reason that they are better acquainted with real estate trends in the area. While she described the Peoria area real estate market over the past few years as “a whirlwind,” she believes 2024 will not be as chaotic.
"We're kind of settling into a new normal where homes are still selling,” said Rothan. “We've seen three home sell in the last few days, and that's right around the holiday season and just within our group. So, homes are still selling. It's just going to be a little bit more of a stable market compared to where we've been in the last few years.”
This article originally appeared on Pekin Daily Times: Peoria, Illinois area real estate market expected to stabilize in 2024
