In terms of housing and real estate, the year 2015 was a great one for America- the best even since 2007.

This was largely due to a robust demand of homes and an ample supply that prompted the U.S. residential real estate market to gain some footing since the housing bubble collapse.

Now it can be safely estimated that 2016 will be an even better year for the housing market. How so?

Employment rates are predicted to continue their increase with the economic growth slowly chugging along. This means people will have more money to spend, i.e. they’ll be able to upgrade their old home to a new one, or even buy their very first investment property in AZ.

Following are some real estate trends that will make the greatest impact on the housing market in the year 2016.

The Housing Market Will Return to Normal

Or close enough. In fact, this year, it’s predicted that America will see a healthy growth in homes sales and prices, but still at a much slower pace as compared to 2015. It’s a big relief for real estate agents as well as home sellers and buyers, as we have lived through some of the most turbulent housing market trends.

Distress sales, which played a big part during the housing bust years won’t be playing an outsized role; new construction will be returning back to more traditional roles and property prices, will increase at normal rates. In a nutshell, the market will be balanced.

2016 Will Be the Best Year to Sell Due to Generational Shuffle

We saw millennials emerging as the dominant home buying force in 2015, with a representation of almost 2 million (about one-third) sales. The exact same pattern is predicted in 2016 as the large number of millennials paired with their improving personal financial conditions will mean buyers between 23 and 34 will dominate the market again.

Also affecting the market in 2016 will be financially recovering Gen X-ers and old baby boomers that’re entering or thinking about retirement. This will boost not only the home buying market but the selling side as well.

Builders to Focus More on Affordable Price Points

Single family construction is the one aspect of housing that hasn’t fully recovered yet. Builders shifted their priorities to producing higher priced housing units for a specific and reliable pool of customers in response to higher land costs, limited labor and worries of low demand in the entry level market. All of this managed to increase new home prices at a faster level than exiting home prices, but this is about to change.

New home prices are already seeing a decline and credit access is seeing an increase which means the first time buyer segment has become the attracting choice for builders. As more builders focus on single family constructions and new home, such properties will become affordable to first time home buyers.

Of course, the location of any investment property makes a huge difference when it comes to these trends. The only thing left for home buyers, and even sellers, to do is get in touch with a reliable real estate agent to guide you through the real estate market.