-- Frank Nothaft
chief economist,
Freddie Mac
"Sales will stay good. I don't see anything on the horizon that says anything but good sales next year. Unless something unforeseeable happens."
-- P. Wesley Foster Jr.
chief executive,
Long & Foster Inc.
"As long as consumer confidence is high, I think property sales will continue to be brisk. We're in the classic demand-supply situation here, much more demand than supply. And that's going to continue."
-- Susann Haskins
president,
Greater Capital Area
Association of Realtors
New-Home Starts and Sales
"I am relatively bullish on new-home sales for this area for next year. Job growth continues to be extraordinary. Long-term interest rates seem to be staying relatively flat. Thirdly, most builders are going into the year with a substantial number of sales ahead of delivery. Unless interest rates skyrocketed and a whole bunch of people defaulted, I think the first half of the coming year will continue at the kind of pace we've seen in the second half of this year.
"Prices are going up across the board, because land is more expensive and fees to local jurisdictions are getting higher. Materials are also still up over a year or two ago."
-- Tom Bozzuto
chief executive,
Bozzuto Group
"For us, the year ahead is set. We're about 11 months sold out on average in almost all our communities -- that's 220 communities in 22 states. With few exceptions, we're basically sold out for 2005."
-- Robert I. Toll
chairman and chief executive,
Toll Brothers Inc.
"Housing starts will be down a little bit, maybe 500,000 units, to 1.8 million a year."
-- John Silvia
chief economist,
Wachovia Corp.
"Starts and sales will decline modestly, maybe 4 to 5 percent, maybe a bit more than that. If rates only go up half a point, that's no shock to the system."
-- Douglas Duncan
chief economist,
Mortgage Bankers Association
"The Washington new-home market is doing fabulously. New-home prices went up 20 percent plus this year. And in 2005, we can expect a similar type of appreciation. So anyone who wants to buy better buy quick."
-- Cory DeSpain
vice president, Maryland/
Virginia division,
Toll Brothers Inc.
"There will be a little drop in new-home sales and housing starts. All the major housing measures will come down a bit in 2005: sales, starts, price appreciation."
-- David Lereah
chief economist,
National Association of Realtors
"We have housing starts down a little bit in the coming year, about an 8 percent decline. Declines will be in the markets where the local economy is weaker. The local economy in the Washington area is doing really well, so it's not here I'm talking about."
-- Frank Nothaft
chief economist,
Freddie Mac
