It looked certain that there was going to be a slump in the real estate market a couple of years ago. At that moment, it made complete sense. The nationwide lockdowns had pushed the unemployment rate in the country to the maximum level since the era of the Great Depression. There were several states that banned home showings in person. But the predicted bust in the housing market did not happen. Both the Federal Reserve and Congress came in with huge economic aid. After only a few months of recession, the housing market and the economy of the nation went into high growth. The US cities' homes are overvalued right now. The real estate in several of the most overpriced areas could decline by more than nine percent over the next several years. The coronavirus pandemic has increased the prices of houses in parts of the nation that are a lot beyond the usual coastal hot spots.

Moody's Chief Economist Mark Zandi said, "It probably makes sense to wait a year or two if you are able," he said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. "House prices will be lower in the most overpriced markets, and there will be more housing inventory to choose from. Of course, it won't be a slam-dunk better market to purchase a home if you need a mortgage, as mortgage rates will likely be higher. In terms of house prices, I expect it [growth] to go flat…there will be markets where we will see a price decline of around 5% to 10%." Frank Nothaft, the chief economist at CoreLogic, said, "New listings have not kept up with the large number of families looking to buy, leading to homes selling quickly and often above list price. This imbalance between an insufficient number of owners looking to sell relative to buyers searching for a home has led to the record appreciation of the past 12 months. Higher prices and mortgage rates erode buyer affordability. They should dampen demand in coming months, leading to our forecast's moderation in price growth."

US Cities’ Homes Overvalued the Most are in Boise in Idaho

The US cities' homes are overvalued the most in the city of Boise in Idaho. It had become a major attraction for workers in the industry who preferred to relocate themselves from the costly cities in California when their offices closed down because of the coronavirus pandemic. The homes in this city are overvalued by nearly seventy-five percent. This makes it the city with the most overpriced homes in the entire country. The overall analysis may cause some concerns for people to purchase a house right now. This is more valid for areas where the cost of real estate has seen major increases during the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the buyers are facing quickly increasing mortgage rates and high housing prices. The increasing mortgage has led to the addition of a lot of dollars to the annual cost of a house. The cities in the Mountain West and the South have seen many buyers during the past couple of years. It could now see a drop in the costs of housing in the near future.

The experts have said that a housing market is seen as being overvalued if the cost of properties in the area is above the relationship between the costs of homes and the costs of construction, rents, and incomes. That will help answer the queries of why the smaller towns in the nation are at the forefront of the phenomenon that US cities' homes are overvalued, rather than the historically expensive cities such as New York. The housing may be costlier on a per-foot basis in San Francisco or New York. But the workers there usually have higher incomes that can lend support to the increasing prices. The locals in these smaller cities are now competing with home purchasers from San Francisco and other large locations. These buyers often have more cash to spend on their housing. This increases the price that is beyond the grasp of several individuals earning a usual salary in these areas. 

Experts say nearly fifty percent of US cities' homes are overvalued in Nashville. It is one of the locations that has felt the pain of a swift increase in the prices of properties. Realtors in the area have said that new property listings under seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars are leading to frenzied demand. Typically, there are more than ten offers in a day when that happens. The increasing prices of real estate in this city are forcing out many users and firms. Many firms had to close down because their lease could not be renewed in a neighborhood where investors were purchasing all the properties.

US Cities Homes are Overvalued and Causing Trouble

Several of the most overvalued locations in the country are not the usual suspects. After Boise, another place where US cities' homes are overvalued is Sherman -Denison in Texas. It is located near the area of Dallas-Fort Worth. Here, the houses are valued by more than fifty percent above what the usual would be. The population has increased in double digits for twenty years as individuals and families relocated from Texas and the other regions. Following that, another overpriced city is Muskegon in Michigan. Here, housing is overvalued by nearly sixty percent.

On the one hand are the mortgage rates and the increasing prices of homes. But on the other side are the incredibly high rents. The monthly rent in the fifty biggest cities of the country increased by nearly fifteen percent in the previous years. This has led to more financial pressure on the citizens of this country. That leads to an interest in purchasing because buyers can at least have a stable monthly mortgage payment. This is even though they will be shelling out more than what they were twelve months ago.

The fact that US cities' homes are overvalued is leading to many queries about whether the housing market is in front of yet another bubble, like the one that happened nearly six years ago and started the Great Recession. But the concerns are usually misplaced. The house hunters should look at their budgets to determine if they can give the money needed to buy the house. The main rule is to spend no more than a third of the overall income on housing costs. These include maintenance, insurance, property tax, and mortgage. Buyers should also ask themselves whether they would be ready to live in the house for a long time.

Jeff Tucker, the senior economist at Zillow, said, "[Homebuyers are] stuck between a rock and a hard place. There are a lot of stark differences with the mid-2000s," he said. "For one thing, rents are rising very rapidly, and the credit of all the recent homebuyers is really strong. The classic rule of thumb is five years. If the answers to those questions are yes, I think there is a good argument for forging ahead to buy that house. The other important question is 'Where else would I be living, and how much would that cost?'" Stacy Downey, the executive director of The Little Pantry That Could, said, "I don't feel like it's my fault, but yeah, of course, it's clear we're letting them down." 

Conclusion

It is a worrying sign for the country that the US cities' homes are overvalued. There has been a rapid increase in the rates of mortgages that have added to the economic shock of the pandemic and the raging housing market right now. But the market is seeing some cool down in recent times. Experts say that the cooling down will accelerate further in the near future. In twelve months, the home price increases year-on-year will be sitting at zero. Currently, experts do not see a correction in the national home costs. But where the US cities' homes are overvalued, the costs could decrease by double-digit percentage points by next year.