Slight Cooling Seen in Hot Market

This year’s real estate market this year has shown to be one of resilience. After the spring’s brief pause with lockdowns was lifted we saw buyers picking back up with their searches and sellers soon after started to list their homes for sale. Additionally, low rates continued to fuel activity as we watched home prices steadily increase throughout summer and into early fall. 

Once early November arrived buyers and sellers seemed to have paused while coronavirus cases increased and the presidential election was upon us according to a report from Realtor.com. New listings slowed while the total number of homes for sale also saw a slight dip with inventory below where it was last year at this time. This shortage of available homes is causing buyers to continue to compete with their offers. Per the report, this year homes were remaining on average 13 fewer days on the market than last year at this time. 

As far as home values go, listing prices have shown a steady trend of increases by nearly 13% over last year. Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist states “With mortgage rates expected to rise on news of a likely vaccine, buyers may have reason to jump back in and find a home sooner rather than later, but sellers may be more inclined to stay on hold. Thus, even as overall activity slows, we may very well see continued price growth and quick sales.”

The real estate market of 2020 has been anything but typical with respect to any kind of traditional market patterns. In many areas we do normally see slowdowns as fall hits around the holidays. This “slower gear” in the market, although perhaps a bit early, is usually the case over several regions across the country at this time. Historically things resume to a faster pace after the first of the year which is just around the corner.