After a tumultuous 2022 marked by a sharp slowdown in demand for residential real estate, San Antonio real estate professionals and consumers are left wondering what it all means for 2023.
Two local industry groups recently heard from experts predicting that while consumer and investor confidence is down, all signs point to the market returning to a more normal state.
“Going into 2021, sentiment was expected to be down given that we were in the middle of a pandemic,” said PwC analyst Leah Waldrum at a meeting of the Urban Land Institute San Antonio (ULI), reporting on its most recent survey of industry professionals.
“In 2022, the market remained strong after a quick recovery and people were very optimistic,” she said. “Now, at the beginning of 2023, with the weight of the potential economic downturn,” fewer people are expecting to have a good year in real estate.
Less than half of all respondents to the real estate professionals survey said they expect to have a good year financially in 2023, down from 86% going into 2022. “This year’s report predicts that the ‘sugar rush’ will be over,” Waldrum said.
But industry confidence varies by sector, she said, with overall demand for industrial space and multifamily housing making those property types an attractive investment in the current economy.
Destination or leisure hotels come in third, “which is a remarkable comeback from a couple years ago, but certainly reflects the return of personal travel” versus business travel, which has been slower to bounce back, Waldrum said.
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Retail and office sectors came in