2023 was a rough year for many folks looking to buy a home with limited inventory.

High prices and ever rising mortgage rates, making it a tough sell.

But with interest rates starting to come down, sales are expected to rise, meaning 2024 could be a much better year for homebuyers.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports.

It was almost comical because it was just unbelievable.

Nick Gerstner talks about trying to buy a house in New Jersey last summer.

The prices.

Looking at what the houses were being listed for, and then finding out that they were going 100,000, 150,000 over asking and I was thinking, my God, but I don't know how I'm going to make this work.

But he finally succeeded that this nice three bedroom in Little Falls last July for just 6000 over asking price.

The hitch, it came with a lead paint problem that Gerstner paid another 20 grand to fix.

Fortunately, I have a background in architecture, so I wasn't afraid to look at houses that needed a little bit of love and care and some work.

And I think if I didn't have that background, I would still probably be looking.

Right now we have very, very little inventory.

New Jersey Realtors' Gloria Monks says New Jersey home prices plunged 23% last year, even as prices rose.

But lots of folks are still looking.

What can they expect?

Realtor.com forecast an almost 11% drop in existing home sales, with prices up 3% and mortgage rates averaging 6.8%.

But Monks thinks rates will probably keep dropping.

I'm very optimistic.

I do feel that buyers will have more of an opportunity to come back into the market if indeed the interest rates do come down.

It is going to give them much more buying power.

It's, you know, hundreds of dollars every month in their pocket.

Once that occurs, I.

Would take a huge bet that you will see more transactions in 2024 than 2023.

Berkshire Hathaway's Ken Baris believes homeowners who locked in very low mortgage rates years ago and delayed selling when the market went nuts will finally feel motivated to list their properties in 2024.

But again, a lot depends on interest rates.

When interest rates go below 5%.

If they do, you'll see a blizzard of listings hit the market like we haven't seen in a incredibly long time.

And I've told every realtor in our company and all of our offices, if rates go below 5%.

Cancel your vacation because it's all hands on deck.

We're going to be listing and selling an incredible amount of real estate.

Realtors say the South Jersey market around Philadelphia's are more fluid because there's more space to build, but they suspect bidding wars will continue.

So what should anxious homebuyers do?

The likelihood here is that interest rates are going to fall significantly, and we've already seen evidence of that.

Market analyst Jeff Otteau has a recommendation for home buyers.

He says start looking in February.

Identify the house that you would like to purchase.

Make your mortgage application and hold off on locking in on the interest rate until perhaps March or April or May, depending upon when your closing will be and get the benefit of any sort of reductions in interest rates over that period.

And he says you can refinance mortgage Gerstner locked in at six and a half percent.

I really feel lucky that I was able to do this.

And my heart really goes out for people that are still looking.

He understands the frustration.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.