The recent history of the real estate market is quite simple. Any single piece of property you were thinking of buying over the last 10 years and didn’t, was a mistake. It is now worth a lot more, maybe even double what you would have paid. It’s one thing to look back and examine the past, but anticipating what will happen tomorrow is surely a daunting task. After reviewing my last two market predictions, it eerily feels as though nothing has really changed. Prices keep rising and supply is scant.

It has been the same story for so long that the likelihood of change seems to be dwindling. Barring the impact of major global incidents on the status quo, short supply and large demand is a hard equation to change. So what happens next?

In the past two years my predictions have been based largely on one segment of the population, namely the empty nesters. This demographic, in prior years or generations, typically would trade in a suburban Teaneck lifestyle for an apartment or townhouse in South Florida, Ft Lee or Netanya. But it seems more and more likely that this group will be holding on to their renovated and expanded homes for the time being. To be clear, there are those choosing to make the move and downsize, and for their efforts they have been rewarded with impressive returns on their homes. The total number of sales, however, is not so impressive.

In a world whose outlook is increasingly unstable, especially for us long-time homeowners, remaining in the very place which has brought so much stability to our families in the past is not an easy thing to part with. The comfort of “home,” regardless of the number of bedrooms that are unused, is still a comfort.

Nechama Polak is the broker of record and owner of V&N Group LLC, located at 1401 Palisade Avenue in Teaneck. Send your thoughts and comments to [email protected] or call 201 826 8809.