A new year typically means change is near, but change can be unpredictable. According to experts, 2022 should play out like last year with tight inventories across the nation, but supply and demand may fluctuate.

Gone are the days of super-low mortgage rates, which fell to an all-time low of 2.67% in December 2020 and held steady (in the low 3s) last year.

The Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet 3 times in 2022 and experts are predicting at least two rate jumps from the current 30-year fixed rate of 3.75%. Rates in the 4s are still considered low, but buyers will be wise to get home offers approved soon, so they can lock in before the rate hikes.

Millennials turned 30 in 2020 and are now the largest population group in the country. Last year, nearly 5 million Millennials applied for homes loans and secured more than half of all mortgages. The generation's appetite for homeownership should continue to spur demand in 2022, but last year's frenzy may ease, as buyers in general, paused during the winter months. 

COVID-19's latest variant may have had something to do with that, but COVID's original strains were more dangerous than Omincron and they didn't stop buyers from snatching up properties over the first two years of the Pandemic.  

With telework on the rise, demand for new construction and rural properties will be high, but 2022 could see a flatter market, with less competition for older homes that are closer to cities and towns.

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