re: Buy a house rite now or wait a bit longer?

The rapid price appreciation may slow, but I don't believe a correction is likely. The fundamentals are strong. We can speculate on rate hikes, but how much will a 25 - 100 bps increase in rates in 2023 really affect housing prices benchmarked to today (especially if inflation continues at 5%+ until then)? The shortage of housing inventory is real, and even if raw material costs continue to decline the U.S. will need to build ~30% more houses annually than the long term average to close the gap in a decade (unlikely, especially with an increasingly stringent permitting process). Additionally, the 10 most populous ages in the U.S. according to the 2020 census are 25-35, prime home buying age.