It looks like a few more people are about to turn their online home shopping daydreams into reality in 2025. Zillow, the famous real estate listings website, says in a press release that next year will likely bring "a gradual but bumpy decline in rates, impacting sales and price growth."

It attributes the forecast to "erratic and dramatic mortgage rate movements" throughout 2024, which will continue to affect the market. The website's housing market predictions report estimates that 2025 will see about 100,000 more sales than 2024, that home value growth will be "low and slow" at 2.2 percent, and that inventory and new listings will continue recovering from pandemic weakness.

On a local scale, Zillow's latest data shows Austin has already experienced a 3.4 percent drop in annual average home values from 2023 to 2024, which will continue fluctuating in 2025.

As of November, Zillow's home value index says the average home in the Austin metro is worth $443,995. That figure is greater than the Austin Board of Realtors' median home sales price in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, which came out to $435,000 last month, reflecting an estimated 2.4 percent increase for just the month of November year-over-year from 2023.

Potential buyers may see better opportunities for purchasing a home during the fall and winter, which is a typically slow season for home sales. Across 36 out of the 50 biggest U.S. metro areas, Zillow's heat market index showed a drop in competition from October to November.

"There's a strong sense of déjà vu on tap for 2025. We are once again expecting mortgage rates to get better gradually, and opportunities for buyers should follow, but be prepared for plenty of bumps on that path," said Zillow chief economist Skylar Olsen in the release. "Those shopping this winter have plenty of time to choose and a relatively strong position in negotiations."

Zillow suggests buyers may have the ability to negotiate "from a position of safety" during the slow winter months. This is especially true for Austin-area buyers, who only saw 10.4 percent of homes sell for more than their listing price in October. The website says buyers can take advantage of opportunities to buy contingent on inspections or repairs, and they may avoid bidding wars during this time.

"While the number of options available to shoppers today are lower than they will likely see in the spring, there's also less competition in the field," the report says. "The [national] share of homes that sold for more than list price was below 28 percent in October (the latest data available), continuing a downward trend that began in July."

Homebuyers should also keep a close eye on mortgage rates in 2025, which could drop unpredictably like they have been for the last three weeks in a row.