
The Economy and National Real Estate Market: A KW Mega Camp Recap
Last weekend’s annual Keller Williams Mega Agent Camp in Austin, Texas gave insight into the 2023 economy and the implications for the national real estate market. In their presentation, Keller Williams provided statistics on GDP, inflation, recession probability, and explained real-life examples of how interest rates are affecting consumers’ buying power. For many, 2023 has been a waiting game. Is the recession coming? When will interest rates finally come down? When will inflation stabilize? This report puts our current economic metrics into a historical context. However, despite all of the statistics, the future is yet to be determined. As of August of 2023, the New York Federal Reserve deems the likelihood of an upcoming recession in the United States at over 70%. The last time the probability ticked this high was before the recession of the early 1980s which stemmed from tight monetary policy aimed at reducing inflation, as is the case in today’s economy. The Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes were designed to bring inflation back down to 2%. Inflation soared in 2020 due to an infusion of cash into the market along with very low interest rates. Now, the economy is feeling repercussions. Clearly, inflation is an increasingly