how is housing market changing?

Answer 1

In the US, the housing market in most cities went from rapidly inflating housing prices to a stable or even slightly declining market. Houses that zoomed from $200k to $500k in five years, are now holding at $500k or dropping a bit to $450k. This is still superb profits for the people who bought at $200k or less, but not the giddy growth it was a year ago.

The housing market is also changing as people increasingly begin to express their middle-class wealth in their homes. What used to be a place to raise children is quickly becoming a means of showing one's affluence. Thus, small ranch homes are being knocked down in some neighborhoods and large homes four times the size are replacing them. This is not happening everywhere but it is certainly happening in some parts of the US. It is now becoming customary in these locations to have a home of 5,000 square feet (500 square meters) with a formal dining room, high ceilings and four bathrooms.

These are two ways that the housing market is changing.