We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Ohio Real Title President, Ryan Marrie, as he reflected on the past year and provided insight on what he sees coming in 2024.
After the last few years of mayhem and irregularities in the market following COVID, Ryan summarizes 2023 as a year of “resetting.”
“2023 was a very different than the previous COVID-related years,” Ryan says. “The market really turned in the summer and fall of 2022 and carried into 2023. That mad rush that happened after COVID slowed and the market retracted.”
With talk of a retracting market comes a lot of uneasiness. But, as Ryan reminds, when looking at the current state of the real estate market, it is all about perspective.
“It wasn’t sustainable. Coming off record highs, the market had nowhere to go but to pull back and 2023 was that year, with the biggest headwind being lack of inventory in all markets.”
However, anyone who has paid any attention over the last year knows that the news has been highly saturated with talk of high prices and demand.
“Prices are still high. Demand is high. Houses sell fast. But comparing a down market in 2023 to a down market in 2008 – there is no comparison. 50% of the transacitons were distressed properties. In 2023, only 1% of all transactions were distressed properties. It’s just different.”
The question now lies, where are we going from here?
“I actually think we are past the bottom in real estate and trending up. I just feel that moving forward in 2024 and in 2025 It is just going to keep trending up. Rates will normalize and come back down, more inventory will come online though affordability is still going to be an issue.”
In reflecting on the last year and what is to come, Ryan expresses his gratitude for his Ohio Real Title team and real estate industry partners.
“It was a difficult year for everybody with changes and challenges, but the strong real estate professionals are the ones doing business and those are the ones we partner with. They take great care of us. We feel very fortunate.”
