Black Knight analyst Andy Walden predicts U.S. home prices could briefly drop before low inventory levels drive the market back up. The number of U.S. homes for sale saw the biggest annual decline since April 2022 last month, and that low supply could drive up prices even as buyer demand wanes.
Over the next several months, Walden says home prices will stagnate and even post small declines, but without adequate for-sale inventory, competition will remain tight and prices will shoot back up by the end of the year, Insider reports.
"I think [the rate of house-price growth] starts to inflect here over the next couple of months," the mortgage data provider's vice president of enterprise research told CNBC's "The Exchange" Tuesday.
"I think we get below 0% for a very, very small handful of months here and then you see that start to trend higher," Walden added.
"There's just not enough supply out there – so even with demand suppressed, I think you're going to continue to see prices firm up and trend higher over the next few months," Walden told CNBC.
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