Date Archives: December 2016

Thanks to websites like Houzz and Pinterest and TV networks like HGTV and DIY, it's easier than ever to keep up with home decorating trends and find inspiration for improving your own home. Here are five of the top current interior design trends.

1. Screen-free rooms: After a long day of using your smartphone and computer, it can feel amazing to come home and take a technology break. More and more, homeowners are creating specific screen-free rooms—perhaps a library, craft room, or listening room—where you can escape from technology for a while.
2. Upholstered headboards: What if you could feel like you were sleeping in a luxury hotel bed every night? The bedding and mattress are an important part of that experience, but so is the aesthetic and comfort of an upholstered headboard.
3. Earth tones: Natural colors have become increasingly popular, especially deep greens. It's a great way to bring some of nature's colors indoors, whether as an accent wall, in blankets and pillows, or for furniture.
4. Black stainless steel: If you want a sleek, contemporary kitchen, black stainless steel is even more of a statement than traditional stainless steel.
5. Patterned fabrics: While solid upholstery will never go out of style, patterns have become trendy of late. It's an easy way to make a bold, eye-catching statement in your living space.

Today, many real estate conversations center on housing prices and where they may be headed. That is why we like the Home Price Expectation Survey.

Every quarter, Pulsenomics surveys a nationwide panel of over one hundred economists, real estate experts, and investment & market strategists about where they believe prices are headed over the next five years. They then average the projections of all 100+ experts into a single number.

The results of their latest survey:

Home values will appreciate by 4.0% over the course of 2017, 3.2% in 2018 and 3.0% the next three years (as shown below). That means the average annual appreciation will be 3.24% over the next 5 years.

The prediction for cumulative appreciation ticked up from 18.7% to 21.4% by 2021. The experts making up the most bearish quartile of the survey are projecting a cumulative appreciation of 10.2%.

Bottom Line

Individual opinions make headlines. We believe this survey is a fairer depiction of future values.

(THANK YOU - to KeepingCurrentMatters.com for providing this article and information)