Slowdown expected in Valley housing market during holiday season

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Valley families are more focused on preparing holiday meals and getting decorations ready.

Home buying, for the most part, is put on hold at this time of year.

"It's pretty typical that things slow down during the holiday season," says realtor Andy Krotik.

"Thanksgiving to New Years is typically the slower time of year. Every year in January, there seems to be an influx of houses on the market."

Krotik has been a North Valley realtor for 35 years.

He expects to see more homes coming onto the market in 2025 but can only hope more people are ready to buy.

"The challenge that I see, I should say, is the minimum sales price of a home in Merced County," he said.

"The median is like $420,000. You can't even find houses for sale under $300,000. It's not there, and so affordability is a challenge."

It may be a while before mortgage interest rates take a noticeable dip.

"Rates are 7%," Krotic said. "Quite honestly, people got spoiled when we got down to 3%. In the old days, when I got into the business, 7% was a great rate, but the millennials don't believe that."

Krotic doesn't expect housing prices to drop, but he says they have leveled off.

The presence of UC Merced continues to draw interest from people in the market for rental units.

"I still get investors from the Bay Area -- they're cash buyers," Krotic said. "We're still the affordable area, and think about this: Merced County is one of the few counties that is actually growing. It's growing because of affordability."

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