2024 has started off with a bang with earthquakes and Tsunamis. On the first business day of 2024, the bond market gave back some gains from the last couple weeks and the Stock market was flat but still positive. If the first few days of 2024 are any indication of the year we will be in for some turbulent times. 2024 is also an election year so prepare yourself for a political ride that we have never seen before in history except for possibly in 1861-1865 (the Civil War).
This year will start off with a slow economy, and a slow Real Estate market as interest rates are still too high for the average person to afford to buy a home, especially in California. The Federal Reserve (The Fed) has vowed to lower interest rates if they see the economy start to decline. The Federal Reserve's Chief, Jeremy Powell, stated that there could be 3 times they consider lowering interest rates in 2024. This would be a great thing for Real Estate as more people could afford to buy a home. If the Federal Reserve does lower interest rates and you did buy a house in the last 2.5 years you would have an opportunity to refinance and lower your monthly mortgage payment. If you have a $500,000 mortgage at 7.5% and the rates move down to 6.5% this could save you $336 a month in your mortgage payment and for most families every penny counts in this economy.
Watch the election antics as this will also drive interest rates. If it looks like people will be electing more of the same types of people to Congress and the Senate and the Presidency be prepared for more oddities like we have seen since the current administration has taken office. We the people in the Real Estate and Mortgage industries know what has been done to the Real Estate Market over the last few years due to inflation caused by giving away taxpayer funds to other countries and stimulus checks and the general devaluing of the US Dollar. You will not hear the truth on your TV or radio about what has really happened to the economy, so I am glad you found this article to see what has been done to the Real Estate Industry due to the mismanagement of the monetary system by our government. This election will probably be the most pivotal election of your lifetime to determine the direction of the United States States. I am not going to tell you who to vote for as I still believe people have the right to choose but some don’t as you see playing out in current news.
One giant issue that is failing to make the news that is affecting the dollar is the advent of the BRICS money system which has vowed to take the US dollar out of being the world’s reserve currency. BRICS is Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and now many other nations have joined this movement powered by China and the Yuan (Chinese money) to become the new world’s reserve currency. This is slowly gaining traction as most countries are tired of Americans running the show and flexing their power all over the globe. The BRICS system is poised to bring the US Petrodollar down which is how all oil has been forced to be purchased over the last almost century. This means that until now all other countries had to convert their currency to the dollar to purchase oil which has made the dollar dominate and has allowed America to thrive over the years. This is also a major reason why our military is in the Middle East currently and could spark World War 3, which is another topic that could have strong implications for the US economy. If the BRICS money takes over as the world's reserve currency the US will be forced to convert the dollar to the Yuan to buy oil which could further devalue the dollar causing even more inflation for the U.S..
This is one reason why with the high interest rates we have seen we have not seen Real Estate values crash as inflation or the devaluing of the US dollar is keeping Real Estate values high. We should also be aware of the debt the country has accumulated as America has over $33 Trillion in debt and until now it has not been a big issue as the US has controlled the world markets, if that changes then the dollar will be further devalued and we will have more inflation and with inflation comes higher interest rates. Some would argue that America just needs to print more money and if that happened it would further devalue the dollar and cause even more inflation and more inflation means higher interest rates. At this point in American economics, we are at a tipping point, and with the current path we seem to be on a collision course with monetary disaster unless we get spending and money giveaways under control, if not we could run into serious economic problems that I don’t want to get into in this piece.
The economy is going to be the biggest issue of 2024 and that will directly affect the Real Estate markets if it is not managed properly. Real Estate values will be in line with inflation this year and interest rates will have little effect on Real Estate values as inflation drives interest rates. Interest rates are the Federal Reserve’s only way to combat inflation. The theory is that as inflation increases the Fed will increase interest rates to slow consumer and business spending and thus slow the demand for goods and services. What is not being addressed is the devaluing of the US dollar by other countries which makes all the goods we get from other countries more expensive, especially oil. To conclude, I believe that 2024 will be a very volatile year for Real Estate and we can pray rates come down enough to get more first-time home buyers into homes.