RE/MAX Co-CEO Adam Contos offered his perspective on what's ahead for the 2018 U.S. real estate market including a continued shortage of the number of homes for sale which, in part, led to more home sales and increasing home prices last year.

"Turn up the volume on new home building," urged Contos, citing housing starts that are down 2.9% year-over-year and well below the historic 50-year average. "We'd love nothing more than to see the next generation of homebuyers start building equity now."

Despite the shortage and any further tightening of inventories, Contos sees an abundance of positive trends too as the overall economy continues to strengthen fueled by wage growth and increasing consumer confidence.

A few things to watch out for according to Contos are any reoccurrences of the devastating hurricanes and fires of 2017, any negative impacts to the U.S. stock market and side effects of the tax bill that passed at the end of last year.

"We'll certainly see our share of challenges in 2018," said Contos. "But with the challenges will come ecstatic home buyers and sellers, new and booming communities (one boasting the new Amazon headquarters) and fresh innovations in real estate that we never saw coming."