January 13, 2024
Needham, MA--The beginning of a new year never fails to inspire an avalanche of retrospective conversation as well as a number of outlooks for the coming year. 2023, especially, was one of the more challenging years the mortgage and real estate industry has seen in quite some time.
And yet, most of us are still here. We’ve managed to find the pockets of opportunity in the market, whether they’re on the CRE side or through working with our best partners to close the refinance and purchase transactions that did happen. Yes, the market contracted last year. That was to be expected with the stark and quick pivot driven by catapulting interest rates in combination with an industry still positioned for the record refinance volume of the previous years. The expert consensus now (if there even is such a thing anymore with this unique set of market conditions), is that 2024 will be slightly better than 2023, but we shouldn’t expect any kind of “hockey stick” recovery. While some talk of “Survive until ‘25” as the strategy of choice this year, we respectfully disagree.
2024: A year for thoughtful and sustainable growth.
In 2024, Kriss Law and Atlantic Closing & Escrow plans to continue growing. That starts with good people and solid strategy. While we will be open to new opportunities – such as our recent addition of Village Settlements in Maryland – we won’t be chasing every trend, fad or niche activity that comes along. We’ll continue to focus on providing expert closings backed by experienced attorneys. We’ll continue to serve our commercial real estate partners as they close their transactions. We’ll continue to partner with our realty-focused friends in the Northeast and throughout the country.
While there’s still a very real possibility that the overall economy will slip into a mild recession in 2024, most agree that the real estate market has bottomed out. The worst may be behind us. In fact, interest rates began to drop faster than expected in the waning days and weeks of 2023 – so much so that the MBA revised its prediction for origination volume upward by 3.6% in November (and 4% for purchases, suggesting just over $2 trillion in origination in 2024).
Meeting a changing market by adapting.
Some may choose to hunker down until things get better in 2025. We see opportunity now, and we’ll continue to serve our partners and clients as they seek those opportunities as well. We’ll continue to grow our use of new technologies, such as RON and digital closing technology, to help improve our clients’ efficiencies and profits, not to mention enhancing the consumer experience. We’ll continue our strategic growth nationwide where the opportunity fits our culture and strategy. And we’ll continue to seek out the best professionals to help us serve our growing client base and geographic footprint.
We’re looking forward to 2024, and we’re looking forward to serving you as things improve as well.
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