NAR’s 2017 “snapshot” does provide some positives

• Home prices are expected to rise 3.9 percent nationwide.
• Existing-home sales are predicted to increase 1.9 percent to 5.46 million homes.
• The homeownership rate is expected to stabilize at 63.5 percent, after bottoming out at 62.9 percent in 2016.

New-home sales are expected to increase 10 percent and new home starts to rise 3 percent