Each month, Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group releases a forecast detailing their outlook for the economy and housing market. According to their most recent release, the group sees some potential challenges ahead that may affect home buyers. Specifically, they believe buyer demand could begin to slow if affordability conditions worsen. Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae's senior vice president and chief economist, says there are a few factors that will determine whether or not that happens. “Affordability remains a challenge, even with mortgage rates near historic lows; if the pace of income growth doesn't keep up with inflation and interest rates rise more than expected, we'd expect housing activity to slow from our current projections,” Duncan said. But while their outlook is cautious, they're still projecting a significant increase in demand next year. In fact, they forecast a 6.3 percent jump in demand for loans to buy homes in 2022. (source)
