Many industries have been devastated by the economic
shutdown caused by the COVID-19 virus. Real estate is not one of them.
Mark Fleming, Chief Economist for First American, just
reported:
“Since hitting a low point during the initial stages of
the pandemic, the only major industry to display immunity to the economic
impacts of the coronavirus is the housing market. Housing has experienced a
strong V-shaped recovery and is now exceeding pre-pandemic levels.”
Buyer demand is still strong heading into the fall.
ShowingTime, which tracks the average number of buyer showings on residential
properties, just announced that buyer showings are up 61.9% compared to the
same time last year. They went on to say:
“Normally, real estate activity begins to slow down in
the late summer, but this year it peaked in July, August and into September.”
There Is One Big Challenge
Purchaser demand is so high, the market is running out of
available homes for sale. Just last week, realtor.com reported:
“Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic in March,
nearly 400,000 fewer homes have been listed compared to last year, leaving a
gaping hole in the U.S. housing inventory.”
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) revealed that,
while home sales are skyrocketing, the inventory of existing homes for sale is
dropping dramatically. Below is a graph of existing inventory (September
numbers are not yet available):
Homebuilders are increasing construction, but they cannot
keep up with the high demand. Bill McBride, founder of the Calculated Risk
blog, in discussing inventory of newly constructed houses, notes:
“The months of supply decreased to 3.3 months…This is the
all-time record low months of supply.”
What does this mean for sellers?
Anyone thinking of putting their home on the market should
not wait. A seller will always negotiate the best deal when demand is high and
supply is limited. That’s exactly the situation in the real estate market
today.
Next year, when the pandemic is hopefully behind us, there
will be many more properties coming to the market. Don’t wait for that increase
in competition in your neighborhood. Now is the time to sell.
Bottom Line
Let’s connect today to get your house on the market at this
optimal time to sell.
Source: Real Estate with Keeping Current Matters