The Real Estate Bloggers

Freddie Mac Shares Optimistic Outlook For 2013

Posted: 22 Mar 2013 06:40 AM PDT

Freddie Mac, one of the key mortgage lenders, has issued it’s outlook for the real estate market and it is coming up roses. Now every increased percentage point of property value removes a huge amount of risk to their mortgage portfolio, so every bit of positive spin needs to be recognized as slightly self serving, the news is still great.

Here are the key takeaways from the March 2013 U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook issued by Freddie Mac.

Compared to 2012, expect home sales to be up 8 to 10 percent for 2013.
Expect housing starts to increase to 950,000 units for 2013, compared to 780,000 in 2012.
In 2012, real estate added $1.5 trillion to balance sheets, and residential mortgage debt outstanding increased by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, indicating household deleveraging might be drawing to a close.
Because of sequestration spending reductions, expect the unemployment rate in 2013 to average about 7.8 percent, essentially flat for the year or about 0.25 percentage points higher than it otherwise would have been.
Regardless, the housing wealth effect is taking hold in the broader market which should translate into the healthiest spring homebuying season since 2007.

You can see the complete Freddie Mac housing analysis here.