Housing

Housing Guru Ivy Zelman: It's the best time to buy a house

Zelman: Housing market looks very good overall
VIDEO5:0005:00
Zelman: Housing market looks very good overall

Housing guru Ivy Zelman told CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report" on Monday that "now" is the best time to buy a house.

"It's the best time in the history of our country with mortgage rates that are below 4 percent that [renters] can actually lock in their fixed cost and create wealth for themselves," she said.

The founder and chief executive of Zelman & Associates is known for calling the housing peak in 2005 and the housing bottom in 2012.

Zelman said this housing cycle is like a "tale of two markets."

She said the entry-level market is beginning to accelerate, and builders' trepidation is slowly beginning to fade as more people are beginning to move to the suburbs.

The market would seem to be in agreement with her on that. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) was trading up more than 1.15 percent Monday morning, and on pace for its best day since Sept. 22, when the XHB gained 1.11 percent.

On the other hand, she said the luxury markets in some cities are in the beginning see "a little bit" of a correction.

When asked about whether millennials will ever buy homes, Zelman said they are beginning to buy houses, but mainly those who are starting a family.

"What we're seeing is that they want to go to the suburbs, millennials are buying and we have nearly 75 million of them just beginning to come through the pipeline," she said.